Climate change mitigation refers to efforts undertaken to limit future warming by reducing emissions and increasing sinks, as well as to mitigate climate impacts more easily. These actions help us adapt better and limit further warming.

Reducing short-lived climate pollutants like methane and nitrous oxide is paramount, while simultaneously restoring forests, wetlands and native prairies.

Emissions associated with energy production and transport can be reduced through using electric vehicles, decreasing our plastic usage, and building climate-resilient infrastructure.

Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions

At its core, mitigating climate change involves reducing emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. This can be accomplished either directly through cutting emissions from burning fossil fuels for energy or transport or indirectly by increasing carbon sinks such as reforestation and improving soil health.

Manufacturing can become more climate-friendly by choosing products made from plant materials rather than those derived from fossil fuels, shipping goods in fuel-efficient ships, reducing waste production, purchasing less clothes and electronics from manufacturers, as well as purchasing less overall.

Reducing short-lived climate pollutants like methane, hydrofluorocarbons and tropospheric ozone emissions is also critical. Doing so can limit feedback loops in the atmosphere that cause dangerous feedback loops to form, supporting efforts to limit warming to 1.5 degrees C. Furthermore, taking this action may have major health benefits including decreased cardiovascular disease incidence, respiratory illnesses and premature deaths as well as biodiversity protection and water security benefits.

Biological Carbon Sequestration

Carbon sequestration, the process of capturing and storing CO2, is one of the most promising techniques for combatting climate change. By blocking carbon from entering the atmosphere, sequestration helps stabilize global temperatures – be it biologically or geologically.

Biological carbon sequestration occurs when plants and microorganisms extract and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis, with forests serving as one of the best natural carbon sinks, but other vegetation such as grasslands and wetlands also sequesters carbon. Cover crops (crops that protect and improve soil quality between regular crop production cycles) can further aid biological carbon sequestration efforts.

Since billions of years, Earth’s ecosystems have successfully modulated global atmospheric CO2 levels through natural means such as biological carbon sequestration system driven primarily by photosynthetic algae. Unfortunately, however, human activities have disrupted this natural process with potentially devastating results on both Earth’s climatic stability and ocean health. As part of its research program on two broad categories of carbon sequestration – geologic and biological.

Adaptation

Mitigation activities aim to lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions while adaptation efforts aim to help people and ecosystems adapt to climate change’s impacts. Incorporating climate-smart farming practices, planting more trees or green spaces or switching to renewable energy sources with stronger resilience into an adaptation strategy often contributes to mitigation as well.

Restoration and conservation efforts that protect forests, wetlands, native prairies and coastal biomes help sequester carbon, provide wildlife with habitat and strengthen resilience to climate impacts such as wildfire, flooding and storms. Furthermore, such initiatives reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve water cycles and increase biodiversity.

Mitigation requires an integrated approach and structural transformations, including transitioning to renewable energy and improving our food systems. Policy actions including carbon pricing and limits on GHG emissions from high emitters must also be implemented, with communities demanding action from their leaders.

Resilience

Businesses are turning to resilience as a form of climate change mitigation. By decreasing risks to assets, supply chains, operations and reputations, resilience-building efforts can lower disruption risk – freeing up resources to invest in longer term projects such as renewable energy adoption or implementing sustainable land management practices which both offer potential mitigation benefits.

Resilience enhances mitigation efforts by creating constituencies for climate change adaptation and mitigation action. By showing co-benefits of resilience actions against vulnerabilities, resilience actions can generate political will for more ambitious climate goals.

Cities and communities are developing resilience strategies to cope with both acute events and long-term climate trends, including investing in resilient infrastructure investments as well as incorporating climate-smart planning strategies into city master plans, hazard mitigation plans and budgeting processes. Critical scholarship emphasizes equity-focused approaches to resilience building so as not to increase existing vulnerabilities or lock into unsustainable development pathways.