Climate change mitigation entails decreasing emissions sources or improving sinks to decrease heat-trapping greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, with an emphasis on reducing their flow into our atmosphere.
Every individual can take part in mitigating climate change through lifestyle changes and shaping business and government policies, such as carbon pricing, regulations and incentives.
Energy
Energy emissions account for most greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, governments, businesses and individuals alike must use renewable energies instead of fossil fuels and reduce energy intensity to increase energy efficiency and save costs.
Energy production and consumption account for more than one quarter of global emissions, making investing in clean and renewable technologies such as solar, wind, wave and tidal power essential for global sustainability.
As part of its efforts to transition away from fossil fuels and establish just transitions to low-carbon economies, GCF provides support through its portfolio of 94 projects in 69 countries.
Transportation
Transport emissions can be affected by many different factors. While engine and fuel technologies often receive the bulk of attention, urban form, population dynamics and finance also play a large role in shaping emissions from this sector. Systemic changes may help decouple transport emissions from economic growth while simultaneously supporting sustainable development and alleviating poverty.
Numerous strategies exist for reducing carbon dioxide emissions from transportation, including fuel efficiency improvements, alternative energy sources, idle reduction strategies and congestion pricing. Furthermore, climate superpollutants such as hydrofluorocarbons may be reduced through replacing existing refrigerants with alternatives. This perspective paper seeks to identify knowledge gaps required for understanding and furthering these efforts, drawing from useful concepts found within frameworks for risk governance and analysis to examine specialised literature reflecting aspects related to them.
Buildings
Construction industry emissions account for a substantial share of global emissions due to extraction, processing, manufacturing, transportation and energy requirements for building materials. This “embodied carbon” includes damage caused by raw material production and transport and must be addressed as part of policies to ensure future buildings achieve net zero operational emissions.
Architects can make an enormous impactful statement about eco-conscious designs by designing more eco-conscious buildings and informing the public of the environmental benefits associated with eco-conscious designs. Architects can do this through retrofits, IoT connectivity or other methods of making buildings more energy efficient.
Cities can also encourage the use of vegetation to cover a percentage of urban areas, which not only reduces energy use but provides many additional ecosystem services like air pollution reduction, reduced cooling costs, storm water absorption, replenishing groundwater reserves and supporting biodiversity.
Agriculture
Agriculture can play an essential part in combatting climate change. By engaging in farming practices such as reduced tillage, cover crop planting and more efficient use of fertilizers, GHG emissions can be reduced in soil while acting as carbon sinks by locking away those already present.
Our results reveal that farmers who believe human activity is contributing to climate change are more likely to advocate for adaptive actions, like investing in protective conservation practices that will neutralize risks for their farms. Conversely, mitigation actions tend to be initiated by government bodies and require collective action in order to incentivize, regulate or otherwise induce changes in behavior.
The World Bank is creating Climate-Smart Agriculture Investment Plans for several of their client countries to identify opportunities and investments in this area. These strategies prioritize climate-resilient infrastructure and capacity building, while also pinpointing carbon trapping practices which could be reduced or eliminated altogether.
Water
Climate change affects water in many ways – from melting glaciers and rising sea levels, droughts, and floods, but less known is its crucial role for adaptation and mitigation efforts.
Water is essential for human and environmental needs, from domestic consumption and industry use, agriculture production and ecosystem services, all the way through hydropower production and the cooling of nuclear power plants. In addition, natural ecosystems like wetlands and forests act as carbon sinks.
Reducing both climate change and water needs requires cooperation among different sectors, with WRF research on water mitigation strategies helping utilities create more resilient long- and short-term adaptation plans, improve reliability during extreme weather events, reduce emissions through energy-efficient treatment of water treatment facilities and delivery services, and decrease emissions through energy conservation in water treatment and delivery operations.