Addressing climate change
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) identifies two options to address climate change:
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing sinks.
Adapting to the impacts of climate change.
Both mitigation and adaptation seek to avoid the potential damages of global climate change and they both seek to support the development of present and future generations in a sustainable manner.
Geo-engineering uses technology to cool the planet by removing carbon dioxide from the earth’s atmosphere or reflecting the sun’s energy back into space. Geo-engineering is potentially a third component in our approach to climate change which could provide the world with extra time to decarbonise the global economy.