Climate change mitigation refers to actions undertaken to decrease or prevent greenhouse gas emissions, such as switching to renewable energy sources, improving energy efficiency measures, adopting regenerative agriculture practices and protecting and restoring forests and ecosystems.
Reaching the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius requires significant mitigation action, with local governments serving as leaders in this effort.
1. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions
As part of its efforts to mitigate climate change, one direct way of mitigating it is reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. GHGs include carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases released into the atmosphere when fossil fuels are burned, or due to human activities like land clearing and deforestation.
Reducing GHG emissions can be achieved using various strategies, including transitioning to renewable energy sources, improving building insulation and using electric vehicles. Other steps could include switching farming practices so as to decrease methane emissions from livestock while simultaneously improving soil quality, or even restoring natural ecosystems like forests to capture GHGs from the atmosphere and remove them from circulation.
actions to reduce GHGs or short-lived climate pollutants such as black carbon and tropospheric ozone provide additional co-benefits by lowering exposures to other harmful air pollutants, known as non-climate change effects. These advantages can help address public health challenges like heat-aggravated illnesses and air pollution related deaths while supporting the realization of multiple sustainable development goals, including those focused on clean air and healthy living – an SDG which could have considerable impacts on public health outcomes.
2. Adapting to climate change
Climate change impacts are already being felt and will worsen without intervention to restrict global warming to safe levels. These effects include more extreme weather events and disasters, habitat loss, biodiversity decline, water and food insecurity and sea-level rise. Through adaptation strategies we aim to minimize our exposure to these impacts as well as maximize any opportunities that come from climate change.
Governments at all levels are becoming better at planning and implementing adaptation strategies, such as building flood defences, mitigating risks of drought, planting more resistant crop varieties to heat waves and wildfires, improving water storage capabilities and using more efficiently. Communities and individuals are also taking steps to mitigate climate change vulnerabilities such as building rainwater harvesting systems, planting trees or using green roofs.
Adaptation saves money when done effectively by mitigating economic losses from climate change-induced natural disasters, flood-damaged businesses and buildings, lost production or costs associated with paying aid – according to The Economic Case for Nature protecting ecosystems can prevent up to 5 trillion in losses to national economies!
3. Restoring ecosystems
Ecosystems have been damaged or overexploited in many regions worldwide, necessitating restoration to restore natural functions that could help mitigate climate change while providing tangible benefits for the people who inhabit these spaces.
Forests, wetlands, grasslands and freshwater ecosystems act as natural carbon sinks, drawing greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere and oceans and into these environments. Thus restoring these ecosystems and taking steps to limit deforestation are integral parts of climate change mitigation strategies.
Restoring ecosystems offers multiple additional advantages. Wetlands improve water quality by filtering pollutants out of lakes and streams; grasslands, forests and wetland vegetation slow erosion to protect people and property against floods or landslides; grasslands provide food and habitat; wetland restoration contributes to biodiversity; restoration increases species diversity – just to name a few!
Restoring ecosystems includes tropical rainforest, mountain forests, dry forests, savannahs and coastal vegetated marine ecosystems (like mangroves). Restoration efforts can include eliminating barriers that impede their growth (like deforestation or harvesting coral reefs by people), changing agricultural practices to be sustainable and encouraging local communities to value nature more highly.
4. Developing sustainable development pathways
Sustainable development pathways are strategies designed to prevent dangerous climate change and move toward an environment in which humans can flourish on an ecologically sound planet. They’re grounded in liberal worldviews that emphasize innovation, efficiency and equality between all members.
Reducing emissions can be driven by policies like carbon pricing and limits on emissions from key sectors like energy, transport and agriculture. Improving building efficiencies as well as efficiency increases can also contribute to reductions. Thermal comfort standards, insulation upgrades and changing agricultural practices can reduce methane and nitrous oxide emission levels from livestock and cropland respectively.
Reforestation and tree planting initiatives to act as carbon sinks; and reducing degradation in grasslands, peatlands and other critical ecosystems by restoring and conserving them as carbon sinks provide multiple co-benefits such as improved water cycles, biodiversity conservation and flood control.