The big idea: There are two ways to respond to climate change:
- Mitigation — reduce the cause (cut greenhouse-gas emissions) to slow warming. - Adaptation — adjust to the effects that are already coming (e.g. build flood defences).
Building resilience means doing both so a place can cope with, and bounce back from, climate impacts. Because emissions cross borders, much of this happens through global agreements between countries (a geopolitical response).
Key terms
- Mitigation — action that reduces or removes greenhouse-gas emissions (renewables, reforestation, carbon pricing).
- Adaptation — adjusting life and infrastructure to cope with impacts already happening (sea walls, drought-tolerant crops).
- Resilience — the capacity of a place or community to absorb shocks and recover from climate impacts.
- Geopolitical strategy — action taken between countries (treaties, agreements, cooperation) rather than by one place alone.
- Global agreement — a treaty where many nations commit to shared climate targets (e.g. the Paris Agreement).
Mitigation vs adaptation: Easy way to keep them apart:
Mitigation = stop the problem getting worse (cut emissions).
Adaptation = live with the problem (defend against the impacts).
Climate change is a global problem: a tonne of CO2 warms the planet wherever it is emitted, so no single country can fix it alone. That is why nations use geopolitical strategies — they meet, negotiate and sign agreements to cut emissions together.
| Agreement / body | Year | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| UNFCCC | 1992 | The UN framework treaty: countries agree to cooperate on climate change |
| IPCC | 1988 | UN science panel that reviews the evidence and reports on the risks |
| Kyoto Protocol | 1997 | First binding emission-cut targets, for richer (developed) countries only |
| Paris Agreement | 2015 | Almost every country pledges to limit warming to well below 2C, ideally 1.5C |
| UN SDGs | 2015 | 17 goals for development to 2030 (Goal 13 = climate action) |
How a global agreement actually reduces warming
- Sets a shared target — e.g. Paris aims to keep warming well below 2C, giving every country a common goal.
- Each country pledges cuts — nations submit national plans (NDCs) to reduce their own emissions.
- Reviews progress — countries report and meet at COP summits, so there is peer pressure to do more.
- Channels money to poorer countries — climate finance helps developing nations switch to clean energy and adapt.
Develop the point: Explain needs the mechanism: don't just write 'the Paris Agreement' — say what it does (shared targets -> national pledges -> reviewed at COP -> lower emissions).
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The Paris Agreement (2015): Almost every country agreed to keep global warming well below 2C, aiming for 1.5C.
How it works: each nation sets its own emission-cut pledges and they are reviewed every few years at COP summits, ratcheting ambition upward over time.
The Kyoto Protocol (1997): The first treaty with binding targets, requiring developed countries to cut emissions by set amounts.
Limitation: it left out fast-growing emitters like China and India, and the USA never ratified it — a reason Paris later included all countries.
UN Sustainable Development Goals (2015): 17 goals to 2030; Goal 13 is 'Climate Action'.
Why it matters: it ties climate to development — ending poverty, clean energy and resilient cities — so countries tackle warming and human wellbeing together.
Name a real effort: Top answers name the agreement (Paris, Kyoto, the SDGs, the IPCC) and say how it works. Keep one or two ready to drop into an exam answer.
How this is tested: On Paper 2 the climate question (Q2) often asks you to name one geopolitical effort to tackle climate change and explain how it works — usually worth [3 marks]: 1 for naming a real effort, 2 for explaining the mechanism.
| Agreement / body | Year | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| UNFCCC | 1992 | The UN framework treaty: countries agree to cooperate on climate change |
| IPCC | 1988 | UN science panel that reviews the evidence and reports on the risks |
| Kyoto Protocol | 1997 | First binding emission-cut targets, for richer (developed) countries only |
| Paris Agreement | 2015 | Almost every country pledges to limit warming to well below 2C, ideally 1.5C |
| UN SDGs | 2015 | 17 goals for development to 2030 (Goal 13 = climate action) |
Easy marks: (1) Name a real agreement (Paris / Kyoto / the SDGs). (2) Say what it does, not just that it exists. (3) Link the mechanism to lower emissions or building resilience.