MITIGATION & ADAPTATION

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.

Researchers

Gustavo Caetano-Anollés

Gustavo Caetano-Anollés

Agriculture, food

Ximing Cai

Ximing Cai

Environmental engineering

Laura Christianson

Laura Christianson

Agriculture, food

Piotr Cienciala

Piotr Cienciala

Geography/GIS

Sandy Dall'erba

Sandy Dall'erba

Economics

Sallie Greenberg

Sallie Greenberg

Geology

Kaiyu Guan

Kaiyu Guan

Nature, environment

Matthew Hudson

Matthew Hudson

Agriculture, food

Atul Jain

Atul Jain

Atmospheric sciences

Franklin Lombardo

Franklin Lombardo

Environmental engineering

Andrew Mackay

Andrew Mackay

Vector ecology

Roman Makhnenko

Roman Makhnenko

Environmental engineering

Amy Marshall-Colón

Amy Marshall-Colón

Plant biology

Nandakishore Rajagopalan

Nandakishore Rajagopalan

Green engineering

Erik Sacks

Erik Sacks

Agriculture, food

Lance Schideman

Lance Schideman

Water and wastewater pollution and treatment

Robert Schooley

Robert Schooley

Nature, environment

Vijay Singh

Vijay Singh

Biological engineering

Murugesu Sivapalan

Murugesu Sivapalan

Environmental engineering, water

Chris Stone

Chris Stone

Medical entomology

Tony Studer

Tony Studer

Agriculture, food

Cory Suski

Cory Suski

Nature, environment

Maria Villamil

Maria Villamil

Agriculture, food

Michelle Wander

Michelle Wander

Nature, environment

Mike Ward

Mike Ward

Nature, environment

Chloe Wardropper

Chloe Wardropper

Environmental governance

Donald Wuebbles

Donald Wuebbles

Atmospheric sciences, climate

Anthony Yannarell

Anthony Yannarell

Nature, environment

Zhenxing Zhang

Zhenxing Zhang

Water supply

Lei Zhao

Lei Zhao

Environmental engineering

Wei Zheng

Wei Zheng

Environmental chemistry

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