Mitigation and adaptation

Question 1

What is climate mitigation?

Answer 1

Human actions to reduce CO2 sources or enhance sinks of greenhouse gases.

Question 2

Name two mitigation examples.

Answer 2

Swapping fossil fuels to renewables, carbon capture and storage.

Question 3

Name one way the UK is working towards their carbon budget targets.

Answer 3

They will remove all their coal fire power stations by 2020-2025.

Question 4

In what year did the UK achieve their lowest emission levels since the late 1800s? What was the main driver of this?

Answer 4

2016, mainly due to the drastic reduction in coal use.

Question 5

What happens after global emissions peak?

Answer 5

They will decline.

Question 6

What would an earlier peak in emissions mean?

Answer 6

Less drastic cuts to emissions.

Question 7

How can we cut back on emissions?

Answer 7

Reduce energy demand, improving energy efficiency, switching to zero or low carbon energy sources.

Question 8

What are some problems with carbon capture and storage (CCS)?

Answer 8

Emissions are difficult to capture and it is essential they stay underground as they are toxic to people.

Question 9

If emissions don’t peak soon what will need to be done?

Answer 9

Emissions would need to go negative (rather than just reduced), meaning we need to take far more CO2 out of the atmosphere than what we put in.

Question 10

What is Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS)?

Answer 10

Growing vegetation, burning it for energy, capturing CO2 released by buring, and growing new vegetation in place of what was burned. Would allow us to be carbon negative.

Question 11

What is a problem with Bioenergy Carbon Capture and Stoarage (BCCS)?

Answer 11

Would require a land area the size of India, however we will also need more land to grow crops.

Question 12

What does direct air capture involve?

Answer 12

Sucking Co2 from the air.

Question 13

What are some problems with direct air capture?

Answer 13

It requires lots of energy (counterproductive as producing energy will likely produce CO2) and it is very expensive.

Question 14

Why does weathering of silicate rocks reduce CO2 emissions?

Answer 14

Silicate rocks absorb carbon dioxide (McKie, 2016).

Question 15

How could we enhance weathering to reduce CO2 emissions?

Answer 15

By spreading silicate rocks over land.

Question 16

How could ocean fertilisation reduce CO2 in the atmosphere?

Answer 16

Putting more nutrients e.g. iron into oceans would increase diatom populations which take in CO2 from the atmosphere and lock it away when they die.

Question 17

What method of reducing global warming did Roger Angel propose?

Answer 17

That we put a giant sunshade made of trillions of glass discs into space which would limit the sun energy which reaches earth.

Question 18

What does Stratospheric aerosol modification (SAM) involve?

Answer 18

Injecting sulphate into the stratosphere to cause cooling. Unclear is this would work.

Question 19

What is climate change adaption? Give an example.

Answer 19

Adjusting to climate change, for example by raising street level to prevent flooding.

Question 20

What ways of reducing global warming have been proposed?

Answer 20

Carbon capture and storage (CCS), Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS), direct air capture, spreading silicate rocks over land, ocean fertilisation, giant sunshade in space, Stratospheric aerosol modification (SAM).

Question 21

What are some problems with spreding silicate rocks on land to mitigate climate?

Answer 21

Would require huge amount of silicate rocks to only absorb a small amount of emissions

Unclear if this method would be cost and energy efficient (more research needed).

Question 22

Name a benefit of fertilising oceans to mitigate climate change:

Answer 22

Some scientists argue only a very small percentage of the ocean would need to be fertilised to mitigate climate.

Question 23

Name some problems with fertilising oceans:

Answer 23

Scientists don’t know how long carbon dioxide would be stored for. Only a small percent is locked away at bottom of oceans - most enters atmosphere again via waste products of organisms higher up the food chain.

Iron is likely to contain toxic trace metals.

Question 24

Name an advantage of putting a giant sunshade in earth:

Answer 24

It would have an immediate effect (Vonberg, 2017).

Question 25

Name some disadvantages of putting a giant sunshade in space:

Answer 25

It would be extremely expensive.

It would take decades before this may be possible but even then it is unlikely.

It could significantly impact climates and hydrological systems (Vonberg, 2017).

Question 26

Name an advantage of Synthetic trees:

Answer 26

They are a thousand times more effective at absorbing CO2 than normal trees (Vonberg, 2017).

Question 27

Name some problems with synthetic trees:

Answer 27

Would require hundreds of thousands of trees to meet warming/mitigation targets (huge amount of space)

Deep burial sites for the captured carbon would need to be found.
(Vonberg, 2017).

Question 28

Name some negative emission solutions:

Answer 28

Carbon capture and storage (CCS), Bioenergy Carbon Capture and Storage (BCCS), afforestation, direct air capture, enhancing weathering/spreading silicate rocks over land, restore coastal/marine habitats e.g. salt marshes & mangroves, biochar etc.

Question 29

What is biochar? How can it be used as a negative emission solution?

Answer 29

A type of charcoal rich in carbon made from biomass.

Burning biomass to produce biochar generates energy and the carbon is locked away within it for hundreds of thousands of years (Woolf et al., 2010).

Question 30

Name some advantages of biochar:

Answer 30

Biochar can be added to soils to increase productivity.

It is a source of renewable energy.
(Woolf et al., 2010).

Question 31

Name some disadvantages of biochar:

Answer 31

There are substantial uncertainties regarding its impact and sustainability.

Clearance of forests to provide land for biomass-crop production could cause greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to increase rather than decrease (Woolf et al., 2010).