Integrating Mitigation and Adaptation: Building Coherent Climate Action for Resilient Economies
The global climate crisis requires not only urgent reductions in greenhouse gas emissions but also effective measures to adapt to its unavoidable impacts. For too long, mitigation and adaptation have been pursued along parallel policy tracks—mitigation focusing on preventing future climate risks, and adaptation addressing present and emerging vulnerabilities. However, with escalating climate impacts and growing economic instability linked to climate shocks, it is increasingly clear that these approaches must be integrated to achieve coherence, efficiency, and resilience. Integrated approaches enable mutual reinforcement: strong mitigation efforts reduce the scale of future adaptation needs, while robust adaptation safeguards the success of mitigation investments by ensuring infrastructure, ecosystems, and communities remain resilient under changing conditions. The convergence of mitigation and adaptation is therefore central to delivering the Paris Agreement goals and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, especially across SDG 1 (End Poverty), SDG 6 (Water and Sanitation), SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), SDG 13 (Climate Action), and SDG 15 (Life on Land) and other interconnected goals. Innovation, finance, and policy coherence are key to advancing this agenda. Integrating both dimensions of climate action—through technologies, nature-based solutions, and inclusive governance—can maximize co-benefits, avoid trade-offs, and promote just transitions that leave no one behind.