Responses to Climate Change » Managing Climate Change: Agreements and Techniques

Two ways to respond: mitigation and adaptation

The last lessons showed that the climate is warming and that people are the main cause. Now we look at what can be done about it. There are two main types of response, and the exam expects you to know the difference.

Key terms:

• Mitigation: reducing the causes of climate change, by cutting greenhouse gas emissions or removing gases from the air.
• Adaptation: living with the effects of climate change, by changing how we live so that people are better protected.
• Net zero: a balance where the greenhouse gases put into the air equal the gases taken out.
• Carbon tax: a charge on each tonne of carbon dioxide a business or fuel produces.
• Emissions trading: a scheme where companies have a limit on emissions and can buy or sell permits.
• Subsidy: money from the government that makes something cheaper.
• Carbon capture and storage (CCS): catching carbon dioxide before it escapes and storing it underground.

A simple picture: a bath is overflowing. Mitigation turns the tap down. Adaptation is putting down towels. Most countries need both.

You also need to separate strategies from techniques. A strategy is an action plan or agreement. A technique is a method actually used on the ground.

Level	Strategy (the plan)	Technique (the method)
International	Paris Agreement	Countries share clean technology
National	Net zero target, carbon tax	Building wind farms, planting forests
Local	A city's climate plan	Electric buses, flood walls

International agreements

Greenhouse gases do not stop at borders, so no country can solve the problem alone. Countries have made agreements to act together. These are examples of strategies.

1. UNFCCC (1992): the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It was agreed at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Countries agreed that climate change was a real problem and that they should act to stop dangerous warming. It did not set exact targets.
2. Kyoto Protocol (1997): the first agreement with legally binding targets. Richer countries had to cut their emissions by a set amount. LICs and MICs had no targets, because richer countries had caused most of the emissions so far.
3. Paris Agreement (2015): almost every country joined. They agreed to keep global warming well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to try to limit it to 1.5°C. Each country sets its own emissions pledge and reports on progress. HICs also agreed to help LICs with money for clean energy and adaptation.

The countries that signed the UNFCCC meet at COP meetings. COP means Conference of the Parties. They are held once a year in a different host country. This is where new targets are negotiated and progress is reviewed. COP21 in Paris produced the Paris Agreement.

National plans

Agreements only work if each country turns them into its own plans. Governments have four main tools.

Mitigation techniques

These are the methods that actually cut or remove greenhouse gases.

• Renewable energy: solar, wind, hydroelectric and geothermal power make electricity without burning fossil fuels, so they replace coal, oil and gas.
• Energy efficiency: using less energy to do the same job. Examples are LED bulbs, loft insulation and efficient appliances. Less energy used means fewer fossil fuels burned.
• Carbon capture and storage: carbon dioxide is caught at power stations or factories, pumped underground and stored in rock, so it never reaches the air.
• Afforestation: planting trees where there were none. Growing trees take in carbon dioxide and store the carbon in wood.
• Electric transport: electric cars, buses and trains produce no exhaust gases. They cut emissions most when the electricity comes from renewable sources.

Adaptation techniques

Adaptation accepts that some climate change is already happening and prepares for it. Different places need different techniques.

Problem	Adaptation technique	How it helps
Rising sea level	Sea walls	Block waves and high water from reaching land
More river and rainfall floods	Flood defences such as embankments, barriers and flood storage	Keep water out of homes and towns
Hotter, drier farming areas	Drought-resistant crops	Crops that still grow with less water
Water shortages	Water conservation, such as collecting rainwater and fixing leaks	Makes limited supplies last longer
Heatwaves and floods	Changing building design, such as shade, raised floors and heat-reflecting roofs	Keeps buildings cooler and safer

Exam-style question

Fig. 1.1 (made-up data) shows actions in Country Z.

Action	Detail
A	New wind farms built offshore
B	Sea wall built along the capital's coast
C	Tax of a set amount on each tonne of carbon dioxide produced
D	Farmers given seeds that survive drought

(a) Define the term mitigation. [2 marks]

(b) Identify the two actions in Fig. 1.1 that are adaptation. [2 marks]

(c) Give one international agreement on climate change and state one aim of it. [2 marks]

(d) Explain how a country can use both strategies and techniques to manage climate change. [6 marks]