The broad agreement among climate scientists that global temperatures will continue to increase has led some nations, states, corporations and individuals to implement responses. These responses to global warming can be divided into mitigation of the causes and/or effects of global warming, and adaptation to the changing global environment.
Mitigation
Emissions reduction
By far the largest amount of political time and effort has gone into reducing in greenhouse gas emissions, principally through the Kyoto protocol. These efforts have been largely unsuccessful. Other approaches include carbon sequestration and certain geoengineering techniques.
The world's primary international agreement on combating global warming is the Kyoto Protocol, an amendment to the UNFCCC negotiated in 1997. The Protocol now covers more than 160 countries globally and over 55 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.[102] Only the United States and Kazakhstan have not ratified the treaty, with the United States historically being the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases. This treaty expires in 2012, and international talks began in May 2007 on a future treaty to succeed the current one.
emissions.
There has also been business action on climate change, including efforts at increased energy efficiency and limited moves towards use of alternative fuels. In January 2005 the European Union introduced its European Union Emission Trading Scheme, a greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme through which companies, in conjunction with government, agree to cap their emissions or to purchase credits from those below their allowances. Australia announced its Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme in 2008. United States President Barack Obama has announced he will introduce an economy wide cap and trade scheme.
The IPCC's Working Group III is responsible for crafting reports that deal with the mitigation of global warming and analyzing the costs and benefits of different approaches. In the 2007 IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, they conclude that no one technology or sector can be completely responsible for mitigating future warming. They find there are key practices and technologies in various sectors, such as energy supply, transportation, industry, and agriculture, that should be implemented to reduced global emissions. They estimate that stabilization of carbon dioxide equivalent between 445 and 710 ppm by 2030 will result in between a 0.6 percent increase and three percent decrease in global gross domestic product.
Geoengineering
Geoengineering would involve the deliberate modification of Earth's environment on a large scale "to suit human needs and promote habitability". It can be divided two major approaches. The first is remediation, in which greenhouse gases would be removed from the atmosphere, principally by carbon sequestration methods such as air capture.[109] The second is solar radiation management, in which incoming solar radiation would be reduced, such as by the insertion of stratospheric sulfur aerosols. The slow pace of action to reduce greenhouse gas cool roof and tree planting projects are underway, no planetary-scale geoengineering has yet been attempted. emissions have led some scientists to suggest that these techniques may be necessary. Whilst some
Adaptation
The effects of global warming are wide in their scope, and a similarly wide variety of measures have been suggested for adaptation to global warming. These range from the trivial, such as the installation of air-conditioning equipment, up to major infrastructure projects, such as abandonment of settlements threatened by rising sea levels. Measures including water conservation, changes to agricultural practices, construction of flood defences, and interventions to protect threatened species have all been suggested. A wide ranging study of the possible opportunities for adaptation of infrastructure has been published by the Institute of Mechanical Engineers changes to medical care,
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