Climate change threatens people, homes, businesses and ecosystems worldwide. Acting now to mitigate its risks and impacts is cost-effective compared to inaction.
Reduced emissions of greenhouse gases is crucial to controlling future warming and climate change, including transitioning away from fossil fuels towards renewable sources such as renewable energies and protecting natural areas such as forests, wetlands and grasslands.
Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions
One way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is by shifting to renewable energy sources. Doing so could decrease air pollution, save consumers money on their electric bills, and broaden access to electricity for more people.
Nearly one third of direct industrial emissions come from energy use. Reducing this sector’s emissions through fuel switching, energy efficiency improvements, the use of renewables and carbon capture and storage technology is possible.
Buildings and public spaces can become more energy efficient by using thermal comfort standards, increased insulation levels and energy-saving appliances and equipment. Furthermore, adopting sustainable agricultural practices which reduce methane and nitrous oxide releases from livestock as well as deforestation could significantly decrease greenhouse gases.
Climate mitigation actions that are most successful include those which take place over multiple years and involve all sectors of society and economy, including cutting fossil fuel emissions and sequestering carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in order to slow or reverse global warming.
Adapting to Changing Climate
Adaptation refers to efforts taken to mitigate climate risks through measures such as building or upgrading infrastructure that is better equipped to resist extreme weather events, creating new insurance schemes with early warning systems, changing agricultural practices to protect wildlife habitats and natural ecosystems, building resilience in vulnerable communities and helping them move away from livelihoods that rely on climate-dependent livelihoods.
Early adaptation measures can help mitigate climate change by decreasing radiative forcing; however, their effectiveness generally declines with increasing temperatures.
To be effective, adaptation efforts must go hand-in-hand with ambitious efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The amount of climate warming from human activity depends heavily on the total balance between emissions and removals (via carbon sinks such as forests) as well as changes to Earth system processes; this balance changes with time depending on decisions society makes about energy use, consumption, land-use or other factors.
Reducing Deforestation
Burning fossil fuels and deforestation has led to too much greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming and radiative forcing.
Solution to human emissions lies in decreasing demand for fossil fuels while expanding renewable energy use. To do so will require regulations, incentives, and investments from all levels of society – from individuals adopting more sustainable habits to companies creating innovative solutions and funding them.
As part of their climate change mitigation measures, countries must reduce deforestation by including it into their national climate plans and strategies (known as nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement). According to Balboni and Olken, current domestic and international financing for forest-based climate mitigation measures averages just US$2.3 billion per year – far too little money considering their full potential impact. A paper they co-authored in Annual Review of Economics provides a useful roadmap for approaching this problem.
Increasing the Use of Renewable Energy
Humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions come largely from energy production – the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas. One way to decrease these emissions is switching to renewable sources like solar, wind and geothermal power; these technologies emit no greenhouse gases of their own and can even be enhanced further using carbon capture and storage techniques for greater climate-friendliness.
Another possible solution would be introducing a carbon pricing system into the economy, such as cap-and-trade programs. This would enable major CO2 emitters to internalize the costs of their pollution, creating an incentive to cut emissions to levels considered socially optimal.
Education about climate change causes and potential solutions is also paramount to driving collective action needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and meet targets outlined by the Paris Agreement.