Fiche de révision : Climate Action Strategies and Policies

📋 Course Outline

1. Climate mitigation and adaptation
2. Climate resilience and vulnerability
3. Government climate policies
4. International organizations and climate institutions
5. NGO roles and accountability
6. Vietnam grassroots environmental action
7. Corporate climate strategies
8. Fossil fuel accountability and greenwashing
9. ESG management and corporate performance

📖 1. Climate mitigation and adaptation

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Climate mitigation : Mitigation is the strategy of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions to limit the overall amount of climate change and stabilize GHG levels in the atmosphere.
• Climate adaptation : Adaptation is the strategy of adjusting to climate impacts that are already occurring or are expected in the future to reduce vulnerability of people and society.
• Climate resilience : Climate resilience is a system’s ability to cope with and recover from climate change impacts, including preparing for and responding to hazards.

📝 Essential Points

• Climate mitigation reduces emissions at the source, such as by shifting to solar and wind power and improving energy efficiency.
• Climate mitigation also uses sector policies, including measures to reduce emissions from transport and construction.
• Climate adaptation can include seawalls for rising sea levels, drought-resistant crops, and infrastructure designed for extreme events like typhoons.
• Some climate change is inevitable because long-lived GHGs keep warming the planet even if emissions stop immediately.
• Mitigation changes systems to lessen future harm, while resilience focuses on maintaining essential functions and bouncing back after impacts.
• Adaptation is described as both short-term and long-term, while mitigation is treated as a long-term strategy.

💡 Memory Hook

Mitigation = stop the cause (cut GHGs); Adaptation = handle the effects (seawalls/crops/strong infrastructure); Resilience = bounce back after the hit.

📖 2. Climate resilience and vulnerability

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Vulnerability assessment : Vulnerability assessment is the step of finding which areas and populations face the highest risk from climate impacts.
• Equitable resilience : Equitable resilience is the effort to ensure marginalized communities benefit from climate resilience actions.

📝 Essential Points

• Adaptation changes systems to better withstand climate impacts, while resilience emphasizes the capacity to bounce back after impacts occur.
• Building climate resilience includes assessing vulnerabilities, implementing adaptation measures, and ensuring fair access to resources and opportunities.
• Climate resilient development is achieved through many everyday choices across climate risk reduction, emissions reduction, and sustainable development, not one single action.
• Uncertainty, limited awareness, limited finance, institutional barriers, social/cultural barriers, and technology limits can all hinder adaptation implementation.
• Adapting for climate impacts is necessary because some warming continues even if all emissions stopped, due to long-lived greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

💡 Memory Hook

Adaptation = adjust now; Resilience = bounce back later.

📖 3. Government climate policies

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Government executive power : Government is an institution with enforceable executive authority to act on climate change.
• GHG emissions targets : GHG emissions targets are national or international reduction goals set by governments through laws or policies.
• Carbon pricing instruments : Carbon pricing instruments are government tools that make emitting GHGs more costly to encourage emission cuts.
• Renewable energy incentives : Renewable energy incentives are government policies that accelerate shifting to solar and wind using subsidies, regulations, and public investment.
• Climate adaptation policies : Climate adaptation policies are actions governments take to reduce vulnerability to climate impacts such as flooding and extreme weather.

📝 Essential Points

• Governments gain executive power through legislative or administrative processes that create laws and regulations.
• When climate action conflicts with national concerns, governments often prioritize national interests over climate goals.
• Carbon taxes impose fees on emissions, while cap-and-trade limits emissions via tradable permits representing emission rights.
• Cap-and-trade works by allocating or selling a fixed number of permits that each correspond to a specific GHG emission amount.
• The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 1997, entered into force in 2005, and was replaced by the Paris Agreement in 2021.
• Adaptation policies can include evacuation plans and infrastructure designed for sea-level rise and extreme weather, plus solutions like water-absorbing parks.

💡 Memory Hook

Executive power is the bridge from law to action: governments set targets, then enforce them through instruments like renewables support, carbon pricing, and adaptation plans.

📖 4. International organizations and climate institutions

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• International organizations : International organizations are groups of countries or entities that coordinate to achieve common goals through shared rules, policies, and programs.
• World Meteorological Organization WMO : WMO is a UN agency that promotes international cooperation in atmospheric science, climatology, hydrology, and geophysics.
• United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change UNFCCC : UNFCCC is the UN negotiation process aimed at limiting dangerous human interference with the climate system.
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC : IPCC is a UN body that assesses climate-change scientific information to provide it to governments at all levels.
• Green Climate Fund GCF : GCF is a climate-finance fund established within the UNFCCC to support developing countries’ mitigation and adaptation activities.

📝 Essential Points

• UNFCCC entered into force in March 1994, and COP29 was held in Baku, Azerbaijan from November 11–22, 2024.
• WMO was established in 1947 by proposals to reform the status and structure of the earlier International Meteorological Organization.
• IPCC was set up in 1988 by WMO and UNEP to assess climate-change scientific information for decision-makers.
• The Paris Agreement was adopted in 2015, entered into effect in 2016, is legally binding, and is part of the UNFCCC.
• GCF aims to assist developing countries with both adaptation and mitigation through climate finance within the UNFCCC framework.
• International organizations face limits from lack of cooperation, resource constraints, geopolitical influence by major countries, and no powerful means to force implementation.

💡 Memory Hook

UNFCCC = “framework talks”; IPCC = “science to governments”; GCF = “funds for developing countries”—WMO supplies the weather/climate science inputs.

📖 5. NGO roles and accountability

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Non-governmental organization : A non-governmental organization is a private, non-profit entity that works independently of government control, commonly on humanitarian, social, or environmental issues.
• Independence from government : Independence from government describes how NGOs operate without government influence even if they sometimes receive government funding or collaborate with agencies.
• Greenpeace : Greenpeace is an environmental NGO founded in Canada in 1971 that campaigns globally on issues including climate change and deforestation.
• World Wide Fund for Nature : The World Wide Fund for Nature is a conservation NGO based in Switzerland that works in more than 100 countries to protect nature.

📝 Essential Points

• NGOs were introduced in the UN Charter in 1945 as voluntary citizen groups working for the public good.
• NGOs often act as watchdogs by monitoring government policy implementation and business practices while informing the public.
• NGO accountability risks include conflicts of interest when funding or collaboration links them to governments or private companies.
• Insufficient transparency can erode public trust that underpins NGO funding and support, enabling resource exploitation or mismanagement.
• Greenpeace was founded in Canada in 1971, has 26 independent national/regional organizations in over 55 countries, and relies on about 3 million individual supporters plus foundation grants.
• WWF is Swiss-based, founded in 1961 (formerly named World Wildlife Fund), and has over 5 million supporters working in more than 100 countries.

💡 Memory Hook

NGOs = UN Charter 1945 watchdogs; check independence, then transparency, then who funds them (conflicts of interest).

📖 6. Vietnam grassroots environmental action

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Grassroots frontline adaptation : Grassroots adaptation is community-led action on local environmental risks where local actors directly implement climate solutions.
• Local NGOs and youth : Local NGOs and youth are non-government actors who mobilize participation and know-how to help communities respond to climate change.
• Transparency in NGOs : Transparency is the practice of openly sharing information about an NGO’s activities, finances, and decision-making processes.
• NGO accountability : Accountability is an organization’s duty to report performance and answer to its stakeholders.

📝 Essential Points

• In Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, climate adaptation depends on frontline involvement from rice paddies, with NGOs and youth described as key actors.
• Local NGOs in Vietnam complement government efforts by running activities that address climate change needs at the community level.
• Authorities may view some NGO work, especially international activity, as a threat to official ideology, yet they still recognize climate adaptation within a greener growth agenda.
• Hope is linked to government recognition of local knowledge held by citizens such as farmers and NGOs in Vietnam.
• To ensure transparency and accountability, NGOs should involve stakeholders in decisions, conduct regular monitoring and evaluation, and provide financial transparency and reporting.
• External audits and independent evaluations are used to assess strengths and weaknesses and to build trust and credibility.

💡 Memory Hook

Mekong Delta = Rice + NGOs + Youth; then add TR-A C to checks: Transparency/Reporting, Audits, and Credibility.

📖 7. Corporate climate strategies

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• RE100 : Renewable energy transition strategy that replaces manufacturing and operations power with 100% renewable electricity such as solar or wind.
• Internal carbon pricing : Carbon pricing mechanism that assigns each department a virtual cost for emissions to shape incentives and investment choices within the firm.
• Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) : Tradable instruments representing the environmental and non-power attributes of 1 MWh of renewable electricity delivered to the grid.
• TCFD climate disclosure : Climate disclosure and risk management approach that analyzes and reports financial impacts of climate risks to investors following TCFD recommendations.

📝 Essential Points

• Companies frame climate change as market survival (financial risk), global regulatory compliance (trade barriers), attracting investment (ESG-linked lending), and securing future markets (low-carbon growth).
• Five core strategy areas are GHG reduction, supply chain carbon management, renewable energy transition, climate risk management, and eco-friendly innovation.
• Direct emissions can be cut by switching factory fuels to LNG or hydrogen and using electrified equipment.
• Indirect emissions can be reduced via green premium pricing, buying RECs, and using power purchase agreements under long-term arrangements.
• Adopting circular economy models reduces raw material extraction and increases product recyclability and lifespan to curb both waste and emissions.
• RECs let buyers legally claim clean-energy use, while PPAs are long-term contracts between an electricity generator and a customer such as a utility or corporation.

💡 Memory Hook

Survival + Compliance + Capital + Growth: climate change shifts from “cost” to business survival and opportunity.

📖 8. Fossil fuel accountability and greenwashing

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Fossil fuel denial strategy : A corporate argument that accepts climate change is real but disputes the firms’ responsibility for causing it.
• Collective energy-demand argument : A responsibility-shifting claim that climate change stems from society’s demand for energy rather than the suppliers’ emissions.
• Greenwashing : A practice where companies exaggerate or misreport environmental progress to appear better on climate action than they are.
• Legal causation dispute : A contested position that challenges whether a clear legal link exists between a company’s emissions and the scientific evidence.

📝 Essential Points

• Fossil fuel firms accept climate change is real, human-caused, and serious while contesting their responsibility for it.
• Their strategies include shifting blame to energy demand, disputing legal causation, and attacking the credibility of the scientific evidence source.
• Greenwashing is described as the exaggeration or misreporting of climate progress by large corporations under consumer and target pressure.
• A study of 25 corporations found many failed to meet their own climate targets and also misreported progress.
• Misreported progress is framed as a lack of integrity in corporate claims rather than best practice performance.

💡 Memory Hook

Blame-shift → causation-doubt → science-credibility attack; then wrap it in “progress” claims (greenwashing).

📖 9. ESG management and corporate performance

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• ESG components : ESG components are the environmental, social, and governance dimensions used to evaluate how firms manage climate and broader non-financial responsibilities.
• Tax benefits mediation : Tax benefits mediation is the mechanism where ESG management influences corporate outcomes by first improving the firm’s tax advantages.
• Non-financial corporate performance : Non-financial corporate performance is the aspect of firm results beyond money that can still improve when ESG management is handled well.

📝 Essential Points

• A journal review finds that ESG components (environmental, social, governance) positively affect tax benefits.
• The same analysis shows ESG also has positive effects on both financial and non-financial corporate performance.
• Tax benefits is the mediating factor connecting ESG components to corporate performance outcomes.
• A study of 25 major corporations reports they often fail their own climate targets.
• The study also reports routine exaggeration or misreporting of progress, which is treated as greenwashing.

💡 Memory Hook

ESG works through Tax benefits: ESG → tax advantages → better financial and non-financial performance.

📅 Key Dates

📊 Synthesis Tables

Mitigation vs Adaptation vs Resilience

⚠️ Common Pitfalls & Confusions

1. Confusing mitigation with adaptation: mitigation reduces GHGs at the source, while adaptation reduces vulnerability to climate impacts.
2. Thinking resilience is the same as adaptation: resilience emphasizes bouncing back and recovery capacity, while adaptation focuses on changing systems to withstand impacts.
3. Missing the “inevitable warming” point: even if emissions stopped, long-lived GHGs and current concentrations can keep warming.
4. Swapping timelines: the source states mitigation is a long-term strategy, while adaptation is short-term and long-term implemented immediately to address current and future challenges.
5. Assuming resilience/assessments are only technical: vulnerability assessment and resilience also require equitable access for marginalized communities.
6. Mixing carbon taxes and cap-and-trade: carbon taxes attach fees to emissions, while cap-and-trade allocates/sells permits representing emission rights.
7. Equating RECs and PPAs: RECs are tradable instruments for 1 MWh attributes, while PPAs are long-term contracts between generator and customer for electricity supply.

✅ Exam Checklist

1. Define climate mitigation, climate adaptation, and climate resilience using the source wording of their core purposes.
2. Explain why some climate change is inevitable even if all emissions stopped, linking it to long atmospheric lifetimes of some GHGs.
3. State the difference in time horizon: mitigation is long-term; adaptation is short-term and long-term and can be implemented immediately.
4. Give three examples of adaptation strategies from the source (seawalls, drought-resistant crops, typhoon/extreme-event infrastructure).
5. Describe climate resilience as including anticipating/preparing for and responding to hazards, plus the three key resilience elements: vulnerability assessment, resilient systems, and equitable resilience.
6. List the challenges that hinder adaptation implementation: uncertainty, lack of awareness, limited financial resources, institutional barriers, social/cultural barriers, technological limitations, and trade-offs/conflicts.
7. Define government’s executive power and explain how it is gained via legislative/administrative processes that form law or policy.
8. Match the government policy mechanisms: emissions targets, renewable energy incentives, energy efficiency, carbon taxes vs cap-and-trade, and adaptation policies (e.g., evacuation plans and water-absorbing parks).
9. Identify the UNFCCC process features from the source: it entered into force in March 1994, COP29 in Baku (Nov. 11–22, 2024), and COP as the decision-making body.
10. State what WMO, UNFCCC, IPCC, Paris Agreement, and the Green Climate Fund are and what each does per the source.
11. Define NGOs per the source and explain independence, the main limitation risks (conflict of interests and lack of transparency), and how transparency/accountability practices build trust.
12. Explain corporate climate strategy pillars (market survival, global regulatory compliance, attracting investment, securing future markets) and list the five core strategy areas plus the meanings of RECs and PPAs.