Climate change mitigation strategies aim to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere. This involves transitioning to renewable energy sources and enhancing carbon sinks such as forests.

These strategies can be costly and time-consuming, but offer significant co-benefits across a wide range of social objectives. These include improving energy efficiency, reducing air pollution and promoting healthier lifestyles.

Adaptation

Climate change mitigation efforts focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing carbon sinks that remove these gases from the atmosphere. These efforts are aimed at keeping global temperature increases below 2 degrees Celsius, which would significantly reduce the impact on communities and ecosystems.

Forest-dependent communities are adjusting their practices to respond to changing climatic conditions. UNDP supports these efforts through the implementation of sustainable land-use policies and training, promoting clean energy solutions and developing energy efficiency labelling standards.

Wildlife habitats are shifting as well, with species seeking cooler climates or higher altitudes while adapting to shifts in food sources and breeding habits. Changing weather patterns also disrupt agriculture, water supplies and lead to increased risk of disease from vector-borne diseases like dengue fever and malaria. Climate change impacts everyone, but the poorest countries and people are disproportionately affected by climate harms like air pollution and increased risks of illness from heat extremes and wildfire smoke.

Mitigation

The ultimate aim of mitigation is to decrease the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by reducing emissions or enhancing carbon sinks. This reduces the amount of heat that is trapped in our planet’s atmosphere and slows global warming.

Mitigation works at every scale, from international treaties that shape policy to community wildfire prevention projects that save homes and ecosystems. It advances environmental justice by focusing on the most vulnerable communities that experience disproportionate damage from climate change and other risks.

The simplest way to decrease emissions is by lowering energy consumption through better building design, public spaces, and energy transmission systems. Changing agricultural practices that release potent greenhouse gases like methane and nitrous oxide can also lower emissions. And reforestation can increase the number of carbon-absorbing trees that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But to make a real difference, deep emission cuts by industrialized countries are essential. These are needed to ensure long-term global warming stabilization at or below 1.5°C and to prevent irreversible tipping points.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Companies that practice CSR can reduce their ecological footprint by implementing energy-efficient practices, recycling and reforestation initiatives. They can also minimize waste and ensure their suppliers follow environmentally conscious supply chains.

CSR can also be a way for businesses to attract and retain talent, as millennial workers are more likely to seek employers with socially responsible policies. Investing in CSR can also help companies avoid costly fines and legal action by addressing environmental and social issues proactively.

While the different types of CSR can differ, all share the same goal of balancing profit, people and planet in the long term. Some examples of CSR include Patagonia’s “Worn Wear” initiative, which promotes a circular economy; Starbucks’ sourcing and sustainability practices, which ensure ethical sourcing and safe working conditions for coffee farmers; and B-Corp certification, a rigorous verification process that showcases a company’s commitment to ethical standards. UNDP works with countries to implement mitigation solutions, guiding them towards low-carbon and climate-resilient development. We help them develop and implement policies, legislation and standards and support them in mobilizing international finance for low-carbon development strategies.

Making a Difference

Local Authorities are ideally placed to identify, exploit and support opportunities for building resilience in their communities. This includes taking part in developing, implementing and supporting energy and emission reduction actions.

Efforts to limit emissions will require large investments in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and other initiatives. Some of these will lead to difficult trade-offs. It is important to analyze carefully the distribution of these costs and benefits, to ensure that they are not disproportionately burdening the poor.

The size of this burden is largely unknown. It will depend on the shape of the damage function (the sensitivity of world economic output to climate change), which is currently a matter for research (Peck, this volume). Uniform approaches for carbon or energy taxes risk ignoring these nonlinearities. The rate of technological change is also an issue, since it will determine the feasibility of mitigation and adaptation initiatives. Research on these issues should therefore be integrated.