The complementarity and comparability of climate change adaptation and mitigation

This research paper examines the relationship between climate change mitigation and adaptation, analyzing their complementarity and comparability across global and national-to-local scales.

• At the global level, perspectives on the relationship between mitigation and adaptation vary by discipline: economic literature often views them as substitutes, while scientific literature views them as complementary because they address risks that differ in time and space.
• While a global mix of mitigation and adaptation could theoretically be defined, literature on governance, institutions, and policy suggests that implementing such a mix would be extremely difficult and highly contentious.
• There is a higher potential for complementarity between mitigation and adaptation at national-to-local and sector levels than at the global level, though conflicts can occur and implementation is hindered by institutional and governance barriers, meaning complementary action is unlikely to occur on its own.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2015). The complementarity and comparability of climate change adaptation and mitigation. https://www.sei.org/publications/the-complementarity-and-comparability-of-climate-change-adaptation-and-mitigation/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. The complementarity and comparability of climate change adaptation and mitigation. 2015. https://www.sei.org/publications/the-complementarity-and-comparability-of-climate-change-adaptation-and-mitigation/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=The complementarity and comparability of climate change adaptation and mitigation |date=30 September 2015 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/the-complementarity-and-comparability-of-climate-change-adaptation-and-mitigation/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2015complementarity, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{The complementarity and comparability of climate change adaptation and mitigation}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2015}, month = sep, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/the-complementarity-and-comparability-of-climate-change-adaptation-and-mitigation/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }