Climate Change Solutions

Climate change mitigation — reducing greenhouse gas emissions to limit global warming — requires a portfolio of solutions across energy, transportation, industry, agriculture, and land use. The IPCC's AR6 report (2022) identified the most cost-effective near-term solutions: solar and wind power (already cheapest electricity sources); electric vehicles; energy efficiency; methane emission reduction; forest protection; and dietary shifts toward plant-based foods. These solutions are economically advantageous regardless of climate benefits. Longer-term solutions: carbon capture and storage (CCS — capturing CO2 from industrial emissions and storing underground; currently expensive and limited scale); direct air capture (DAC — machines pulling CO2 directly from the air; Climeworks charges $1,000/tonne, uneconomical at scale); enhanced weathering (spreading crushed silicate rocks to accelerate natural CO2 absorption by soil); ocean iron fertilization (controversial — stimulating phytoplankton growth to absorb carbon, risks ocean ecosystem disruption); and geoengineering (stratospheric aerosol injection — simulating volcanic eruption cooling effects, extremely controversial because of unpredictable regional effects and 'termination shock' if stopped suddenly). Nature-based solutions (mangrove restoration, peatland protection, reforestation) are the highest priority near-term carbon removal strategies.