Lesson Y9-U03-L10

Y9-U03-L10 Responding to Climate Change: Mitigation and Adaptation Quiz: KS3 Geography, Unit 15

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson Y9-U03-L10, Responding to Climate Change: Mitigation and Adaptation: 20 multiple choice questions for the KS3 Geography (National Curriculum), Unit 15: Year 9: Weather, Climate and a Changing Atmosphere, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. What is mitigation?

    • Action to stop the Sun from changing its output.
    • Action to plant trees that will never be cut down.
    • Action to cope with impacts of climate change that cannot be stopped.
    • Action to reduce climate change by cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

  2. What is adaptation?

    • Action to cut the greenhouse gases that cause warming, such as planting trees and building new wind farms.
    • Action to measure temperature from space every day.
    • Action to switch every power station back to coal.
    • Action to cope with the effects of climate change that cannot be stopped.

  3. Does mitigation tackle the cause or the effect of climate change?

    • The effect, by moving homes away from the coast.
    • The effect, by building higher sea walls.
    • The cause, by cutting greenhouse gases.
    • Neither, since it only measures the weather.

  4. Which of these is an example of adaptation?

    • Building solar farms.
    • Planting millions of new trees.
    • Switching petrol cars to electric.
    • Building higher sea walls.

  5. Which of these is an example of mitigation?

    • Building higher sea walls.
    • Developing drought-resistant crops.
    • Building solar farms.
    • Moving homes away from the coast.

  6. Why do the benefits of mitigation take decades to appear?

    • Wind turbines only start to work after decades.
    • Gases already in the air stay there for decades.
    • Governments always delay action for decades.
    • Trees take decades to grow before any cut is possible.

  7. What is renewable energy?

    • Energy from sources that do not run out, such as wind or sunlight.
    • Energy from waste water that is pumped uphill.
    • Energy from nuclear fuel that is buried underground and sealed in rock for many thousands of years.
    • Energy from coal and oil that is recycled after use.

  8. What does carbon capture technology do?

    • It plants trees along the edges of busy roads.
    • It blocks sunlight with ash clouds high in the sky.
    • It makes the sea level fall by lifting water into clouds.
    • It traps carbon dioxide before it reaches the air.

  9. On the cost chart, which strategy is cheapest per tonne of carbon dioxide cut?

    • Carbon capture, at about 120 pounds.
    • Wind power, at about 40 pounds.
    • Solar power, at about 45 pounds.
    • Tree planting, at about 15 pounds.

  10. Carbon capture costs about 120 pounds per tonne and tree planting about 15 pounds. How many times more does carbon capture cost?

    • About 80 times.
    • About 8 times.
    • About 2 times.
    • About 15 times.

  11. Trees absorb carbon dioxide as they grow. How does planting them help the climate?

    • Less carbon dioxide is left in the atmosphere, which slows warming.
    • Trees block sunlight, which stops the sea from rising.
    • Trees release carbon dioxide, which cools the planet down.
    • Trees make the air so dry that clouds never form.

  12. Which explanation chain for wind power is correct?

    • Wind power generates electricity without burning coal, so carbon dioxide emissions fall.
    • Wind power blocks the sea, so homes stay dry during storms.
    • Wind power burns coal in the turbines, so emissions rise and the warming of the planet increases steadily.
    • Wind power turbines absorb sunlight, so the Sun dims over time.

  13. Which explanation shows why a sea wall is adaptation?

    • It cuts greenhouse gases, so the warming itself slows down.
    • It traps carbon dioxide before it reaches the atmosphere.
    • It copes with rising seas and storm surges, but does not cut emissions.
    • It replaces coal in power stations with wind power.

  14. Which pair correctly matches each strategy to its type?

    • Electric cars: adaptation; drought-resistant crops: adaptation.
    • Electric cars: mitigation; drought-resistant crops: mitigation.
    • Electric cars: mitigation; drought-resistant crops: adaptation.
    • Electric cars: adaptation; drought-resistant crops: mitigation.

  15. A coastal city says 'we have built sea walls, so we are tackling the cause'. What is the best correction?

    • Sea walls cope with the effect; cutting emissions is what tackles the cause.
    • Sea walls cut emissions, so the city is tackling the cause well.
    • Sea walls are mitigation, because they stop the Sun warming the sea.
    • Sea walls are neither mitigation nor adaptation, so they do nothing useful.

  16. Why might a low-lying country need both responses at once?

    • Adaptation makes mitigation unnecessary, so emissions can keep rising.
    • Both responses cancel each other out, so a country should choose only one.
    • Mitigation only helps low-lying countries, so adaptation is never needed.
    • Adaptation protects people now, while mitigation slows the warming that causes further harm.

  17. Which is a weakness of adaptation?

    • Its benefits take decades to appear because existing gases stay in the air.
    • It stops all carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.
    • It keeps the Sun's output at a safer level.
    • It is costly and does nothing to stop the warming itself.

  18. Which is a weakness of mitigation?

    • It works only locally, in one street at a time, so its benefits never reach the wider country or the world.
    • Its benefits take decades to appear, because existing gases stay in the air.
    • It does nothing at all to address the cause of warming.
    • It leaves homes exposed to flooding within a single day.

  19. Which judgement about a low-lying country is best supported?

    • Adaptation alone is enough, because the warming will stop by itself soon.
    • Neither response matters, since climate change has no real effects on people or on the land they farm.
    • Mitigation is pointless, because the sea will rise whatever a country does.
    • Adaptation protects people now, but only mitigation can stop the problem getting worse in the long term.

  20. To what extent can a country rely on adaptation alone?

    • Not fully: adaptation copes with impacts, but without mitigation the warming and its impacts keep growing.
    • Not at all: adaptation only works in cold countries with deep snow, and never in low-lying coastal ones.
    • Completely: adaptation stops warming, so mitigation is never needed.
    • Completely: adaptation has no costs, so it is always the best choice.

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