Global concern over climate change and its potential consequences have led the world community to consider international actions to address this issue. These actions fall into two broad categories: an adaptive approach, in which people migrate and/or change their living conditions to adapt to a new environment; and a preventive or “mitigation” approach, in which attempts are made to minimize global climate change by removing its causes. According to IPCC, without additional mitigation efforts beyond those in place today, and even with adaptation, warming by the end of the 21st century will lead to high to very high risk of severe, widespread and irreversible impacts globally.

Areas of Research Focus

World-leading experts at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are pursuing cutting-edge research to further advance understanding of the current and future options for adaptation and mitigation as complementary strategies for reducing the risks of climate change, including:

• environmentally sound technologies and infrastructure;
• sustainable forest management and reducing deforestation;
• agriculture cropland management and grazing land management;
• restoration of organic soils;
• waste management;
• sustainable livelihoods;
• behavior and lifestyle choices, such as changes in consumption patterns, adoption of energy savings measures, dietary change and reduction in food wastes;
• the costs of mitigating climate change; and
• the effectiveness of various policy options — and their distributional implications.