Climate Change Mitigation — Basic Structure

Basic Structure

Mitigation map

Reduce emissions at source, reduce demand for an emitting activity, improve efficiency, change energy supply or strengthen verified removals. State the gas, boundary and period for the claimed result.

Distinctions

Mitigation changes climate drivers; adaptation reduces vulnerability to effects.
Intensity is emissions per output; absolute emissions include output volume.
Installed capacity is potential power output; generation is energy actually produced.
Avoided emissions depend on a baseline; removals require extraction and storage from the atmosphere.
Net zero is a balance within a stated boundary, not necessarily zero gross emissions everywhere.

Original arithmetic anchor

10 emissions units × 100 products = 1,000. After improvement, 8 × 150 = 1,200. Intensity falls while total emissions rise. The two claims are compatible because output changes.

Removal checks

Measure quantity, duration, reversal risk and displacement of activity outside the boundary. A project label alone does not establish additional climate benefit.

Policy chain

Commitment → instrument and finance → implementation → measured outcome → revision. NDCs provide an international framework for national action, while domestic measures deliver the result. A capacity announcement or training programme is implementation evidence with a particular scope. Do not relabel it as an emissions inventory or proof of an achieved atmospheric outcome. Include feasibility and distributional effects when evaluating policy choices.