GCSE-readyResponding to climate change: mitigation and adaptation
We know people are changing the climate. The big question now is what to do: cut the causes, cope with the effects, or both?
Mitigation: tackling the causes
Examples: switching to renewable energy; energy efficiency (insulation, LED lights, heat pumps); electric and public transport; planting and protecting forests; restoring peat bogs; and carbon capture and storage (trapping carbon dioxide from power stations and industry and storing it underground).
Agreements and targets
Paris Agreement (2015): nearly every country agreed to keep warming well below 2 degrees C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees C. Each country sets its own plan to cut emissions.
The UK's Climate Change Act (2008) set legally binding targets. In 2019 it was changed to a target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Net zero means any emissions left are balanced by removing the same amount from the atmosphere.
Adaptation: coping with the effects
Examples: flood defences such as the Thames Barrier, which protects London from tidal surges; drought-resistant crops; water saving and new reservoirs; houses on stilts in flood-prone areas; managed retreat on coasts; and planting trees in cities for shade.
Both are needed: mitigation slows future change; adaptation protects people now. Lower-income countries have done least to cause the problem but are often hit hardest, so they may need money and help to adapt.
| Response | Mitigation or adaptation? |
|---|---|
| Building wind farms | Mitigation |
| Raising flood defences | Adaptation |
| Insulating homes | Mitigation |
| Growing drought-resistant crops | Adaptation |
A city plants thousands of street trees. Explain how this could be both mitigation and adaptation.
- Trees take in carbon dioxide during photosynthesis, which reduces the gas in the atmosphere: mitigation.
- Trees give shade and cool streets during heatwaves, helping people cope with hotter summers: adaptation.
- So one action can do both jobs.
Answer: Trees store carbon (mitigation) and cool the city in heatwaves (adaptation).
Mitigation cuts the causes (renewables, efficiency, transport, forests, carbon capture). Adaptation copes with the effects (flood defences like the Thames Barrier, drought-resistant crops, water saving). Paris Agreement 2015: well below 2 degrees C, aiming for 1.5. UK Climate Change Act 2008; net zero by 2050 set in 2019.
- Climate
- The average weather of a place, usually measured over 30 years.
- Climate change
- A long-term change in the Earth's climate. Today's warming is mainly caused by burning fossil fuels.
- Mitigation
- Actions to reduce the causes of climate change, such as using renewable energy.
- Not “Coping with floods and droughts”. That is adaptation.
- Not “Switching from coal to wind power”. That cuts emissions, so it is mitigation.
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2 more questions
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Which of these is mitigation?
- Building higher flood walls
- Planting drought-resistant crops
- Raising houses on stilts
- Switching from coal to solar power
Show the answer
Answer: Switching from coal to solar power
Mitigation cuts the causes of climate change.
Which of these is adaptation to climate change?
- Using electric buses
- Growing drought-resistant crops
- Insulating homes
- Building wind farms
Show the answer
Answer: Growing drought-resistant crops
Adaptation helps people cope with the effects.
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- National Curriculum in England, Key Stage 3: Geography programme of study
- UNFCCC: Key aspects of the Paris Agreement
- Climate Change Act 2008 (2050 Target Amendment) Order 2019
- gov.uk: The Thames Barrier
Checked by the GCSE-ready editorial team, 23 October 2026. Last updated 2 October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us and we will fix it.