Mitigation and Adaptation
Mitigation means reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and adaptation means adjusting to the changes that are already happening.
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Play with the controls to see the idea in action.
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Mitigation means reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and adaptation means adjusting to the changes that are already happening.
- Renewable energy cuts emissions
- Sea walls protect coasts
- Drought-resistant crops help farmers
🧠 Quick quiz
Three questions. Score 2 or more to complete the topic.
What is Mitigation and Adaptation?
Within Earth & Environmental Science, which covers our planet, its resources and ecosystems, and how people can protect the environment, this topic explains Mitigation and Adaptation. Earth and environment topics show how the planet’s systems shape landscapes, climate and life, with models that make these processes visible.
Check that you can explain Mitigation and Adaptation in your own words and give one example from everyday life. If you can do that, you have understood the core idea.
Understanding Mitigation and Adaptation helps you explain the environment around you and weigh up how people can protect it.
Mitigation and Adaptation in detail
Mitigation means reducing the causes of climate change by cutting greenhouse gas emissions or removing them from the air. Actions include switching to renewable energy, improving energy efficiency, electric transport, protecting and planting forests, carbon capture and changing diets and consumption.
Adaptation means adjusting to the effects, such as building sea walls and flood defences, growing drought-resistant crops, improving water management, cooling cities with green spaces and creating early warning systems. International agreements, such as the Paris Agreement (2015), aim to limit warming to well below 2 °C. Both mitigation and adaptation are needed, and the sooner the action, the lower the cost.
How the interactive helps you understand Mitigation and Adaptation
Click a card to flip it and reveal the answer, then move on to the next one.
Before you change anything, predict the result. Then change one value at a time and check whether your prediction was right. This is a quick way to build a correct mental model of Mitigation and Adaptation.
Real-life uses and examples
- Discuss how human activity changes Mitigation and Adaptation, using a named example.
- Explain how Mitigation and Adaptation affects the landscape or climate near you.
- Link Mitigation and Adaptation to a real environmental problem and a possible solution.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Presenting one cause as the only cause of an environmental change.
- Describing a process without the timescale it works over.
- Learning the definition without testing it. Use the quiz and the interactive to check that you can apply the idea.
Frequently asked questions about Mitigation and Adaptation
What is Mitigation and Adaptation?
Mitigation means reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and adaptation means adjusting to the changes that are already happening.
What are the most important points about Mitigation and Adaptation?
The main points are: Renewable energy cuts emissions; Sea walls protect coasts; Drought-resistant crops help farmers.
Why is Mitigation and Adaptation useful?
Understanding Mitigation and Adaptation helps you explain the environment around you and weigh up how people can protect it.
How can I practise Mitigation and Adaptation?
Open the interactive at the top of this page and change the controls one at a time. Predict the result before each change, then take the three-question quiz. A score of two or more marks the topic as complete on this device.
Which topics are related to Mitigation and Adaptation?
Related topics in Earth & Environmental Science include Ocean Currents and Climate, Water Conservation, Biodiversity.