Tag: mitigation

Counting on day 214

14th November 2024

“Let’s dispense with any idea that climate finance is charity;” runaway climate change is impacting “every single individual in the world one way or another,” Mr. Stiell, the UN climate chief,  said on Monday.

Why do poorer nations (in particular) need climate finance? Because it can enable them to: 

  • take action to mitigate against the causes of climate change  – eg switching to renewable energy, replacing wood/coal fired cooking stoves with electric ones, greening heavy industry; 
  • take action to adapt to the ongoing effects of climate change – eg insulating buildings against extremes of heat, upgrading flood defences, improving early weather warning systems;
  • cover the costs of damage caused by extreme weather and other destructive effects caused by climate change.

Counting on day 212

12th November 2024

Even if we stop adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, the CO2 that is already there will not immediately diminish. It will be there for decades to come, meaning that the higher global temperatures that we are already experiencing will also not diminish any time soon. And this means that the extreme weather events that we are now experiencing – floods, droughts, heatwaves, wild fires etc – are not going to diminish either. We therefore need to count on the world leaders at COP29 to agree measures to help us adapt to the changes in the climate that we have already caused – improved flood defences, developing new farming models, conserving water, expanding early weather warning systems, heat proofing buildings etc. 

What is the difference between mitigation and adaptation? 

“Climate change mitigation means avoiding and reducing emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere to prevent the planet from warming to more extreme temperatures. Climate change adaptation means altering our behaviour, systems, and—in some cases—ways of life to protect our families, our economies, and the environment in which we live from the impacts of climate change. The more we reduce emissions right now, the easier it will be to adapt to the changes we can no longer avoid.” https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/what-s-the-difference-between-climate-change-mitigation-and-adaptation