Mitigation

Mitigation reduces the causes: for example, replacing fossil-fuel electricity with wind power reduces carbon dioxide emissions. Adaptation reduces the damage caused by change: for example, protecting coastal homes from flooding as sea level rises.

Mitigation tackles the cause by limiting greenhouse gas emissions or increasing their removal from the atmosphere. Adaptation reduces harm from changes that occur. Cutting emissions can reduce future risks, but it does not remove the need to prepare for heat and flooding.

Technology cannot stop tectonic plates moving, but it can reduce the harm caused by earthquakes. This is mitigation: reducing deaths, injuries and damage rather than preventing the natural event itself.