Chapter 9 of 10All chapters
Chapter 9 of 10
Responses
Reducing and adapting.
Two tracks
Mitigation reduces emissions: electricity, transport, heating, industry and land use. Adaptation prepares for changes already committed: flood defences, heat planning, water storage and crop choice.
- Carbon dioxide persists for centuries, so warming stops only when net emissions reach zero.
- Methane is far more potent and much shorter lived, so cutting it acts quickly.
Trade-offs
Every option has costs, land use implications and distributional effects. The scientific question of what is happening is separate from the political question of what to do.