Mitigation Strategies

Geography: Edexcel A Level, topic 8.5.3

Mitigation

Climate mitigation is when actions are taken permanently to reduce or halt climate change impacts to people, property and the environment.

Taxes set by the government promote the reduction of fuel or electricity by both businesses and people.
Taxes can be specially for fuel like those imposed on cars i.e. congestion charge and road tolls. In the UK, taxes on fuel in 2016 were 50% of the price.
To reduce their carbon tax, businesses may choose to use more environmentally friendly materials and reduce their waste and emissions.

Switching refers to nations moving away from using fossil fuels and towards more sustainable renewable energy sources.
The UK currently has a target of 15% of its energy consumption to be generated from renewable energy by 2020.
Sweden is the leader in renewable switching. In 1970 75% of all electricity is Sweden was powered by oil, now it is only 20%. Sweden now uses a range of HEP, nuclear and wind power to produce its electricity.

Improvements in technology mean that humans are becoming more efficient with how we use fuel (the quantity of it) and the efficiency of renewables.
Increasing the use of technology has the highest energy efficiency (for example grade A on the A-G scale). This is particularly relevant for household electrical appliances, which are in the long-term cost-effective due to the reduction in electricity bills.

Planting of more trees will promote this important carbon store and absorb more CO₂.
Landowners (particularly farmers) can be given funds if committed to not cutting down forests - REDD provides this in the UK but this is also seen in Costa Rica’s rainforest.
Afforestation is increasingly at a faster rate in developed nations due to their position on the Kuznet curve.

Government policy and agreements between different governments control climate change mitigation strategies.

The Paris Agreement is an example of a global agreement towards reducing climate change.
The aim is to limit any further temperature increase to 1.5^oC.
A series of strategies are required to ensure this happens.
This includes developing new technology and capacity to implement this as well as sticking to national objectives.
In order for this to be achievable support for the developing and most vulnerable countries is essential.

As part of the Paris Agreement, the UK established its NDC (Nationally Determined Contributions).
The previous emissions targets were not changed from their current values but the government is committed to reducing domestic emissions to net 0.
Strategies set out for removing greenhouse gases included carbon capture and storage and afforestation.
They also are seeking to improve energy-use efficiency, decarbonise electricity and increase the number of zero-emission vehicles.