Environment essays sound interchangeable when students reach for pollution, problem, government, important. The Band 7+ version uses precise, scientific-feeling collocations that signal you’ve read the topic, not just heard about it. Here are 30 graded collocations to lift your environmental writing past the mid-6 plateau.
Group A — describing the problem
- exacerbate climate change
- Continued reliance on fossil fuels exacerbates climate change at a measurable pace.
- release greenhouse gases
- Industrial agriculture releases greenhouse gases comparable to the entire transport sector.
- deplete natural resources
- Over-extraction is depleting freshwater resources faster than they can recharge.
- biodiversity loss / decline
- Habitat fragmentation has driven sharp biodiversity loss across the tropics.
- carbon footprint
- Air travel has the largest per-passenger carbon footprint of any transport mode.
- single-use plastic
- Single-use plastic packaging accounts for nearly half of all plastic waste produced globally.
- extreme weather events
- Extreme weather events — once-in-a-century storms, floods, fires — are now annual occurrences in many regions.
Group B — explaining the cause / mechanism
- be largely attributable to
- Coastal flooding is largely attributable to thermal expansion of ocean water.
- stem from / arise from
- Many environmental issues stem from short-term economic incentives.
- contribute substantially to
- Beef production contributes substantially to deforestation in the Amazon.
- place a strain on
- Population growth is placing an unsustainable strain on freshwater systems.
- tip the balance / tipping point
- Scientists worry that Arctic ice melt could tip the climate system past a recoverable threshold.
Group C — proposing action
- transition to renewable energy
- Denmark has transitioned over half its electricity generation to renewable sources.
- phase out [something polluting]
- Several countries have committed to phasing out internal combustion engines by 2035.
- reduce / curb emissions
- Carbon pricing has been shown to curb industrial emissions where it is enforced strictly.
- preserve / safeguard ecosystems
- Marine protected areas safeguard ecosystems that are otherwise too dispersed to police.
- offset [an impact]
- Reforestation can partially offset emissions, but not at the scale current policy assumes.
- raise public awareness about
- Documentaries have raised public awareness about overfishing far more than government campaigns.
Group D — qualifying claims (Band 7+ register)
- in the long run
- In the long run, individual choices compound into measurable systemic change.
- to a significant extent
- Air quality has improved to a significant extent since the introduction of stricter vehicle standards.
- the scientific consensus is that
- The scientific consensus is that human activity is the dominant cause of recent warming.
- no quick fix
- There is no quick fix for plastic pollution — it requires changes at every stage of the supply chain.
- with the notable exception of
- Emissions have peaked in most developed countries, with the notable exception of the United States.
Pick the precise collocation
- 1
Coastal flooding is largely _______ to thermal expansion of ocean water.
Pick one. You'll see why straight away.
- 2
Several countries have committed to _______ internal combustion engines by 2035.
Pick one. You'll see why straight away.