Integrating climate change in the post-2015 development agenda

The document argues that climate change and development are inextricably linked, as climate impacts threaten to undermine poverty eradication and sustainable development goals. It suggests that the post-2015 framework should be 'climate-smart,' incorporating targets that simultaneously address poverty, low-carbon development, and resilience. The briefing explores two primary integration options: mainstreaming climate-related targets across various goal areas or establishing a stand-alone climate change goal. It highlights that people living in poverty are disproportionately affected by climate change, particularly through impacts on agriculture, water security, health, and infrastructure. The document concludes that the success of the post-2015 agenda depends on its ability to foster policy coherence and encourage private sector and sub-national engagement.

• Climate change poses a severe threat to global development, with current trends projecting a global average temperature increase of 3°C to 5°C by the end of the century, which could 'seriously jeopardize social and economic development gains in the years and decades to come.'
• People living in poverty are disproportionately vulnerable to climate change because they rely heavily on natural resources such as land, water, fisheries, and forestry, which are profoundly impacted.
• Climate change impacts are expected to severely degrade food and water security; specifically, warming above 2°C is projected to decrease crop yields at all latitudes, putting tens of millions more people at risk of hunger.
• Climate change creates systemic risks for infrastructure, health, and education, including the spread of climate-sensitive diseases like malaria and dengue fever into new areas, and interruptions to schooling for the poorest children, especially girls.
• There are significant opportunities for 'climate-smart' investments that provide co-benefits for both development and climate, such as bus rapid transit for urban transport, agroforestry for resilience and carbon storage, and distributed solar power for electricity access.

APA

Scott, A., & Picot, H. (2014). Integrating climate change in the post-2015 development agenda. Climate and Development Knowledge Network. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Integrating-climate-change-into-the-post-2015-development-agenda.pdf

Chicago

Scott, Andrew, and Helen Picot. Integrating climate change in the post-2015 development agenda. Climate and Development Knowledge Network, 2014. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Integrating-climate-change-into-the-post-2015-development-agenda.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Scott |first1=Andrew |last2=Picot |first2=Helen |title=Integrating climate change in the post-2015 development agenda |publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |date=March 2014 |url=https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Integrating-climate-change-into-the-post-2015-development-agenda.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{scott2014integrating, author = {Scott, Andrew and Picot, Helen}, title = {{Integrating climate change in the post-2015 development agenda}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2014}, month = mar, url = {https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Integrating-climate-change-into-the-post-2015-development-agenda.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }