Intro to mit and adapt

Current status

• The Paris Agreement: Aiming to limit global warming to well below 2°C preferably 1.5°C, above pre-industrial levels

• 2025: The global average surface temperature was 1.44 °C (uncertainty of ± 0.13 °C) above the 1850-1900 average

Mitigation

• Human intervention to reduce emissions or enhance the sinks of GHGs

  • Electrification e.g. cars

  • Conservation and restoration of wetlands - under nordic conditions, peatlands are estimated to contain 70 tonnes of carbon per decade

Current progress in mitigation

• Paris agreement has led to policy development in target-setting at national and sub-national levels

• Policies have enhanced energy efficiency, reduced deforestation and accelerated tech deployment - avoided and in some cases reduced or removed emissions

• Substantial emissions gap between implementation of mitigation measures and the 1.5 target

Adaptation

• Human systems - process of adjustment to actual or expected climate and its effects, in order to moderate harms or exploit beneficial opportunities

  • Reducing flood risk - reducing urban heat etc

• Natural systems - the process of adjustment to actual climate and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustments to expected climate and its effects

  • e.g. plants flowering earlier due to warmer springs

Current progress in adaptation

• 170 countries and many cities have included adaptation in policies

• Most observed responses are fragmented, incremental, sector-specific and unequally distributed across regions

• Adaptation gaps exist and will continue to grow

• Significant gap - not doing enough of either

• Limits of adaptation

  • Effectiveness declines as warming increases

  • Financial, institutional and governance barriers - soft limits

  • Physical or ecological constraints - hard limits

  • Some ecosystems and communities may no longer be able to adapt sufficiently e.g SLR

Maladaptation

• Maladaptation - actions that may lead to increased risk of adverse climate related outcomes, including via increased GHG emissions, increased or shifted CC vulnerablity, more inequitable outcomes or diminished welfare

  • e.g. compact city planning for less car use so less CO2 but this can lead to less green infrastructure which exacerbates heat waves (urban heat island) -> higher energy consumption

  • Good thing if not done correctly can increase risks

Synergies and co benefits

• Integrated mit and adapt actions can generate multiple synergies and co-benefits

  • e.g. forestry - storing carbon (mitigation) while also reducing heat and managing storm water (adaptation)

  • Co-benefits - improved air quality, biodiversity, health and recreational space

  • Synergy - supports both mitigation and adaptation with the two objectives reinforcing one another

Trade offs

• When mitigation and adaptation have negative effects on one another

  • e.g. hydropower - renewable energy source but negative impacts on ecosystems and communities - downstream effects can be across countries