Why We Need Mitigation Strategies to Reach Our Climate Goals

The impacts of climate change are myriad and complex. Addressing them requires a multifaceted approach that pairs adaptation efforts with mitigation strategies and innovative sustainability solutions. In other words, we must adapt to the changes and take steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and minimize mankind’s detrimental impacts on the health of the planet.

The world is moving away from fossil fuels and transitioning to clean energy but it’s a complex process and massive undertaking that will take many years to implement. In the meantime, we urgently need solutions that mitigate the impacts of climate change, and they must be executed in lockstep with long-term sustainability practices while meeting the world’s growing need for plentiful, reliable energy.

Bringing Climate Mitigation Solutions to Life

Under the Paris Agreement, countries around the globe agreed to substantially reduce their global greenhouse gas emissions, setting ambitious emission caps and targets and Net Zero goals with the aim of keeping Earth’s average surface temperature from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. Governments and organizations are deploying a wide array of tactics to make good on their promises, including removing excess carbon from the atmosphere, absorbing carbon at its source and creating and maintaining carbon sinks.

These projects and technologies remain complicated to deploy and operate, but thanks to the tailwind provided by the Inflation Reduction Act and other policy springboards for investment in commercial-scale deployment, we’re now better able to scale up mitigation technology. Battelle is actively supporting technical development and project management for a wide range of world-leading climate mitigation projects.

Fueling Clean Power Systems

Clean hydrogen is a promising source of power for industrial uses, as burning it doesn’t release carbon dioxide. It is particularly ideal for applications that are lacking other clean alternatives, such as steel and cement production, and it can also be used as a chemical for making alternative fuels for ships and planes.

The Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2) consortium led by Battelle aims to establish a clean, economically viable and socially equitable hydrogen ecosystem through the development of a safe and sustainable clean hydrogen ecosystem in Appalachia. The project is a collaborative initiative between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), private industry, state and local governments, academic and technology institutions, non-profit organizations and community groups and spans multiple production, storage, delivery and diverse end-use applications within the Appalachian region. ARCH2 was awarded Phase 1 funding in July 2024 and the hope is that it will serve as a model for a national clean hydrogen network. Importantly, it will also help grow a new sector in the job market within communities experiencing job loss, which are so prevalent in Northern Appalachia, making hydrogen a viable mitigation solution that addresses both economic and energy needs.

Capturing and Storing Carbon as We Transition to Clean Energy

One of the greatest hurdles in the fight against climate change is how to tackle emissions from “hard-to-abate” sectors, due to their reliance on the portable, high-intensity energy provided by fossil fuels. These industries are thought to be responsible for one-third of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption, and include trucking, shipping, aviation, steel, iron, chemicals, cement, glass, power and more. Each one is contending with the same challenge: they must drastically shrink their carbon footprint, even as demand for their products and services continues to grow. And unfortunately, each pathway to decarbonization has its own drawbacks – for example, intermittent renewable energy isn’t reliable enough to meet their constant needs, while switching to clean hydrogen may only be viable for facilities in certain locations. The most realistic option is to explore pathways that allow them to continue leveraging existing assets in the near term, while transitioning to a Net Zero Carbon future.

One way to mitigate emissions from these industries is through carbon capture and storage (CCS), a process that removes carbon dioxide (CO2) from the byproduct flue gasses before it disperses into the atmosphere. Battelle has over 25 years of experience in CCS and has completed over 75 projects globally. In addition, we currently maintain the largest dedicated-saline-carbon-storage team in the industry, with more than 100 subsurface and geotechnical experts At the Project Cypress DAC Hub led by Battelle in Louisiana, CO2 removal technologies by Climeworks and Heirloom will be powered by renewable energy, reliably and sustainably removing CO2 from the atmosphere and storing it safely underground to prevent worsening extreme weather events like hurricanes, droughts and floods. Projects like this are vital to achieving a balance between how much CO2 the U.S. emits and how much it removes.

Helping Renewable Energy Reach Its Full Potential

There’s no question that renewable energy is the answer to some of the most pressing problems posed by climate change. But like any revolutionary innovation, there are many technical, economic and policy hurdles to navigate on the road to widespread adoption. As a contract manager of National Laboratories, Battelle runs national labs that contribute to renewable energy generation, including the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Each of these labs is helping to pave the way to a more sustainable future through research, development, commercialization and deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies.

No Single Solution

Mitigating greenhouse gas emissions is an enormous endeavor and there is no silver bullet that will solve all the world’s carbon pollution problems. Private industry and the public sector must join forces to deploy a holistic approach that envisions a variety of pathways and utilizes an assortment of tactics, including clean fuels, carbon capture and storage and renewable energy generation. With collaboration and innovation, we can develop and deploy effective next-generation solutions that transform the impact we have on the health of the planet.

Learn more about how Battelle is supporting climate resilience.