As the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Glasgow, UK enters its last leg, here’s a guide that may help you to follow the news about climate change. The explanation of each term starts with the technical definition from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
1. Mitigation
IPCC definition: a human intervention to reduce emissions or enhance the sinks of greenhouse gases.
Translation: Stopping climate change from getting worse.
When people talk about “mitigation” they often focus on fossil fuels – coal, oil and natural gas – used to make electricity and run cars, buses and planes. Fossil fuels produce greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide. When these gases are released, they linger in the atmosphere. They then trap heat and warm the planet.
Some ways to mitigate climate change include using solar and wind power instead of coal-fired power plants; making buildings, appliances and vehicles more energy efficient and designing cities so people have to drive less. Protecting forests and planting trees also help because trees absorb greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and lock them away.
2. Adaptation
IPCC definition: In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate and its effects, in order to moderate harm or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate and its effects.
Translation: Making changes to live with the impacts of climate change.
Climate change is already happening. People will have to find ways to live with these threats. More “adaptation” actions will be needed as climate change gets worse.
3. Carbon dioxide removal
IPCC definition: Carbon dioxide removal methods refer to processes that remove CO2 from the atmosphere by either increasing biological sinks of CO2 or using chemical processes to directly bind CO2. CDR is classified as a special type of mitigation.
Translation: Taking carbon dioxide out of the air.
In 2019, there was 1.5 times more of it than in the late 1700s. Planting trees and restoring grasslands can remove carbon dioxide from the air. There are also carbon dioxide removal technologies that store it underground or in concrete, but these are new and not widely used.
4. Carbon neutral
IPCC definition: Carbon neutrality is achieved when anthropogenic CO2 emissions are balanced globally by anthropogenic carbon dioxide removals over a specified period. Carbon neutrality is also referred to as net-zero carbon dioxide emission.
Translation: Adding no net carbon dioxide into the air.
This does not have to mean that you can’t add any carbon dioxide. It means that if you do add carbon dioxide into the air you take out the same amount. The IPCC warns that the world needs to be carbon neutral by 2050 to avoid a serious climate crisis.
5. Tipping point
IPCC definition: A level of change in system properties beyond which a system reorganizes, often abruptly, and does not return to the initial state even if the drivers of the change are abated. For the climate system, it refers to a critical threshold when global or regional climate changes from one stable state to another stable state.
Translation: When it is too late to stop effects of climate change.
One of the most talked-about tipping points involves the collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet. Some research suggests it may have already started happening. West Antarctica alone holds enough ice to raise sea levels worldwide by about 11 feet (3.3 meters).
Glossary abridged from ‘A quick guide to climate change jargon – what experts mean by mitigation, carbon neutral and 6 other key terms’ by Wändi Bruine de Bruin in The Conversation
