What is climate mitigation and climate adaptation?

Extreme weather, heat waves, storm surges, droughts, and floods are not anymore something to come but a reality. The Earth has already increased its temperature by 1.1 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels, and since 2016, there has been a global commitment by nations to limit global warming, preferably, to 1.5ºC. The question is no longer whether we should fight climate change but how we can do so. Here is where the key concepts of mitigation and adaptation come into play. The first one, mitigation, tackling the prevention of the greenhouse gases emission (GHG). The second one, adaptation, focusing on preparing our world for the unstoppable impacts of climate change. If you want to know more, join us on this exciting journey to fight climate change.

"Mitigation is like taking medicine to prevent a disease”, claims the atmospheric scientist Dr. Katherine Hayhoe, so that we could understand it. When we talk about mitigation, we refer to human actions to stop and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and slow down the pace of climate change.

Although it may sound grandiloquent, this has straightforward applications, such as the use of renewable energies, increasing energy efficiency or stopping deforestation. These are changes that entail political actions and that fall under the responsibility of our administrations, but there are many other small changes in the behaviour of citizens that can contribute to a global effort such as drops in the ocean.

These are all small changes that shape our daily lives, but for sure, they must be accompanied by significant global actions carried out by our politicians, industry, and the business sector in general.  This is how Niklas Hagelberg, UNEP's Climate Change coordinator, sees it: “The climate emergency demands action from all of us. We need to get to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and everyone has a role to play. We, as individuals, must change our consumption habits and pressure those who represent us – our employers, our politicians – to rush to a low-carbon world."

Sometimes we are left with a sense of obligation and we don't understand why this constant demand to take action on climate change exists. The first thing to bear in mind is that the increase in the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere due to human activities is one of the main drivers of climate change, according to the WMO (World Meteorological Organization). This increase directly affects to the rising of mean temperatures not just in the atmosphere, but in the oceans and lands, too. As a consequence, more extreme weather events occur including unprecedented heat waves such as those of the last few summers. From Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC), they advise:

And it doesn't stop there, it also affects rainfall,changing or intensifying historical parameters, as well as other type of hazards like “cold, frost, rain, flooding, drought, snow, wind, coastal erosion and ocean heat waves”, as IPPC points out.

Whether through international agreements and policy frameworks, such as the Paris Agreement, or individual action, what is certain is that mitigation actions are essential to limit the extent of future climate change and its adverse consequences. By reducing emissions, we can mitigate the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events, preserve biodiversity, and protect vulnerable ecosystems.

While mitigation addresses the cause of the disease and tries to prevent its symptoms, adaptation focuses on finding ways to cope with these effects that are already occurring or are expected to happen in the future. In other words, “it responds to the risks while it builds future resilience”, says Juan Pablo Hoffmaister, Co-chair of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change says.

Because the effects of climate change impact regions in a different way, adaptation needs to take different forms. Adaptation strategies offer practical solutions for communities to adapt to changing conditions. This implies going beyond solutions in scientific terms and demands adding a layer of knowledge and action in the economic, social, cultural, and even anthropological fields, among others. 

Within these considerations, economic capacity stands out as a pivotal factor shaping vulnerability, as the lack of resources leads to a slower or even non-existent response to the effects of climate change. Furthermore, countries with weakened infrastructures or inefficient health systems face an increased risk to population, exacerbating inequality. The United Nations give one example:

To address this situation, the financing of adaptation measures must be seen as a future investment rather than an expense, as it is estimated by the World Bank a $1 investment in infrastructure, on average, yields $4 in benefits.

The so-called Early Warning Systems are also indispensable when talking about adaptation. These are systems for observing, monitoring and predicting risks, assessing the risk of natural disasters, and communicating and preparing the population before they occur. Although universal access to early warning systems can bring benefits up to 10 times greater than the initial cost, unfortunately, many countries still do not have them. In Africa, 60% of the population does not have access to these early warning systems, but in Europe, the figure is 38%, based on the Provisional State of the Global Climate 2022 elaborated by WMO.

For example, changing the type of crops suited to drought, building desalination plants to increase people's access to clean water, restoring coastal vegetation to address erosion, or building more green spaces in urban areas.

There are more and more practical cases, and there are initiatives such as the European Union's Climate-ADAPT platform that showcases initiatives already being carried out in Europe to adapt to climate change and increase resilience to extreme and slow-onset weather events.

Once we know the objectives, the benefits and the differences between adaptation and mitigation, these two lines of action against climate change should not be viewed as mutually exclusive but as complementary strategies reinforcing one another. Focusing solely on mitigation without considering adaptation would leave communities ill-prepared to cope with climate change's existing and future impacts. Similarly, adaptation efforts alone cannot prevent the continuation of climate change; they can only alleviate its effects to a certain extent.

On top of that, getting on board with both approaches presents an opportunity to foster innovation, create new green jobs, and promote sustainable economic development. Investing in renewable energy sources, for instance, not only reduces emissions but also stimulates job growth and improves energy security, and as we have seen, it multiplies the return on investment.

In recent decades, several international agreements have been reached between States through the COP (Conference of the Parties), this is the annual summit held by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which brings together 196 countries plus the European Union. Thanks to these meetings, concrete adaptation and mitigation measures have been established, such as the investment of 100 billion dollars for climate finance projects in developing countries or the global agreement to limit the increase in global temperature to below 2ºC, with respect to the pre-industrial era level.

From 30 November to 12 December 2023, the next COP28 will take place in the United Arab Emirates. On the table are such crucial issues as tripling renewable capacity, doubling energy efficiency by 2030, and increasing climate finance. In the meantime, citizens will continue to confront climate change by leading actions at local and regional levels in a proactive way. In that sense, some voices, especially from the younger generations, are rising to mobilise their political representatives and offer real and immediate actions.

Overall, taking part is not a chimaera. At the individual level, we can incorporate new habits that allow us to mitigate the increase in the greenhouse effect. At the community level, we can join together to reach new solutions that enable us to adapt to a present and future that coexist and will coexist with the effects of climate change. As the environmental activist and Nobel laureate Al Gore, said: