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The document argues that climate compatible development is won or lost at the subnational level, where local actors face intense pressure from climate extremes but possess unique advantages in local knowledge and cross-sectoral coordination. It identifies key barriers, such as scientific uncertainty at local scales and a gap between public expectations and available resources. To overcome these, the paper recommends strategies including the cultivation of local political 'champions', the creation of 'knowledge partnerships' to translate climate science for communities, and the use of participatory planning to mobilise in-kind resources. It emphasizes that for these local successes to contribute to global transformational change, they must be 'scaled out' to other localities and 'scaled up' into national policy frameworks.

The document argues that scaling out community-based adaptation (CBA) requires moving beyond isolated pilots to a systemic approach that integrates adaptive capacity, strategic partnerships, and documented evidence. It identifies four key enabling factors: building comprehensive adaptive capacity (assets, institutions, knowledge, innovation, and decision-making), leveraging diverse networks including the private sector, producing rigorous cost-benefit evidence, and utilizing flexible institutional and finance mechanisms. Case studies from Niger, Colombia, Zambia, and Bangladesh illustrate different pathways to scale, ranging from informal farmer networks and municipal government planning to commercial contract farming and international research platforms.

The document outlines the role of the private sector in achieving Kenya's low carbon climate resilient development pathway as defined in the National Climate Change Action Plan 2013-2017. It details sector-specific opportunities for mitigation and adaptation, highlighting existing private sector investments in geothermal power, bagasse cogeneration, and solar panel assembly. The briefing emphasizes that the plan creates new market opportunities and cost savings for businesses across agriculture, energy, ICT, and urban development.

The Kenyan agricultural sector, which accounts for over a fifth of the GDP, is highly sensitive to climate change, facing risks from unpredictable rainfall, droughts, and pests. While the sector is a significant emitter of greenhouse gases—primarily from livestock—the document emphasizes that adaptation to ensure food security and export earnings is the priority. It suggests climate-smart practices such as agroforestry and conservation tillage to build resilience and reduce emissions, while noting that the carbon market currently offers limited financial benefits due to high monitoring costs.

The document examines the vulnerability of Kenya's manufacturing sector to climate change, specifically highlighting risks to energy security and supply chains, while outlining mitigation strategies such as energy efficiency and industrial ecology.

The document highlights that Kenya's economy is highly exposed to climate change, with droughts and flooding estimated to cost approximately 2.4% of GDP annually. It argues that the private sector can mitigate risks and gain competitive advantages through resource efficiency, renewable energy, and product innovation. The Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) is identified as a key entity supporting firms in managing these risks and accessing opportunities, such as those outlined in the National Climate Change Action Plan 2013-2017 (NCCAP).

The tourism sector in Kenya is highly climate-sensitive, with climate change already causing infrastructure damage and threatening key attractions. While the sector contributes less than one per cent of national greenhouse gas emissions, the document encourages businesses to adopt sustainable practices and low-carbon operations to build resilience and capture the growing market for sustainable tourism.

The transport sector in Kenya, which accounts for approximately 10 per cent of GDP, is highly vulnerable to climate impacts such as flooding and sea level rise, while simultaneously contributing 10 per cent of national greenhouse gas emissions as of 2010. The document outlines specific physical risks to infrastructure, such as the warping of rail tracks from higher temperatures and damage to ports from storms, noting that the 1997-98 El Niño floods caused transport infrastructure damage of Ksh 62 billion. To mitigate emissions, which are projected to reach 19 per cent of total national emissions by 2030, the briefing recommends the 'avoid-shift-improve' approach, increasing fuel efficiency in vehicle fleets, and shifting freight from road to rail. It also highlights the potential and controversies surrounding biofuels in Kenya, specifically the 'food versus fuel' debate.

The document outlines the necessity for businesses in Kenya to 'climate-proof' their operations by assessing risks and implementing adaptation measures. It highlights that climate change impacts—such as temperature increases and rainfall changes—affect all economic sectors, with droughts and flooding estimated to cost Kenya approximately 2.0 per cent of GDP annually. The briefing provides a sector-specific matrix of risks and opportunities and shares examples of Kenyan companies already adapting through supply chain diversification and innovative insurance products. It advocates for the use of risk assessment tools and calls for government leadership in demonstrating climate resilience.

The report analyzes 33 barriers across various sectors in Kenya that hinder private sector action on climate change, as identified in the National Climate Change Action Plan (NCCAP) 2013-2017. Key systemic issues include limited access to affordable long-term finance, high upfront costs for low-carbon technologies, and a lack of information on building business resilience. The document prioritizes six key areas for the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) and the Climate Business Information Network (CBIN) to address through government engagement: establishing a National Climate Fund, providing financial incentives for renewable energy, restructuring the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) policy, streamlining renewable energy approvals, improving energy efficiency standards, and coordinating climate-friendly agricultural programs.

The document identifies three critical sets of conditions for the effective implementation of local climate policies in developing countries: government capacity, problem framing, and political factors. It argues that while government capacity (legal, financial, and technical) acts as a necessary enabling condition, the actual motivation for policy action depends on how climate goals are framed to align with local socioeconomic concerns and the influence of political entrepreneurs and interest groups. The author emphasizes that implementation is more politically challenging than adoption and suggests a 'configurational' approach to understanding how these various factors combine to produce successful outcomes.

The document identifies significant barriers to integrating climate science into African policy-making, including systematic biases in climate models, a decline in observational data networks, and a lack of technical capacity to interpret data. It emphasizes that current climate information is often too coarse in resolution for local decision-making and is poorly communicated to policy-makers. To address these gaps, the authors recommend promoting African-led science, improving the translation of research into non-technical formats, and engaging influential finance and development ministries rather than relying solely on environment ministries.

The guide argues that effective mainstreaming of disaster risk management (DRM) requires a supportive policy environment, strong leadership, risk knowledge, consistent financing, and innovation. It identifies key barriers, such as the compartmentalisation of DRM, climate change, and development into separate policy streams, and the lack of technical capacity for risk assessment. The document proposes solutions including strategic inter-ministerial coordination, the use of 'data-light' risk assessment methods, and the creation of political incentives by demonstrating the economic returns of risk-informed investments. It emphasizes that mainstreaming is a political process requiring inclusive partnerships and the navigation of vested interests to protect development gains from climate-related disasters.

The guide argues that effective mainstreaming of disaster risk management (DRM) requires a supportive policy environment, strong leadership, accurate risk knowledge, consistent financing, and innovation. It highlights that DRM is often compartmentalised from climate change and sectoral development, leading to 'risk-blind' decisions. The document proposes overcoming these barriers through strategic inter-ministerial coordination, the use of cost-benefit analyses to prove the economic value of risk-informed planning, and the engagement of the private sector. It emphasizes that mainstreaming is a political process that requires inclusive, multi-stakeholder platforms and visionary leadership to navigate vested interests and institutional inertia.

The document examines how climate change threatens Kenya's trade sector, particularly agriculture and tourism, through infrastructure damage and supply chain disruptions. It discusses the potential for 'green protectionism' via carbon labeling and border carbon adjustments, while suggesting that Kenya could gain a competitive advantage by branding its low-carbon niche products.

The document outlines the financial requirements for Kenya's transition to a low-carbon economy, estimating that Ksh 1,085 billion is needed for the 2013-2017 National Climate Change Action Plan. It identifies key barriers to private investment, such as arduous project development processes, and suggests improvements including the implementation of the draft Climate Change Bill 2014. While Kenya has a strong track record in renewable energy investment and voluntary carbon markets, the briefing warns that compliance carbon markets are currently limited by oversupply and lack of access to the EU-ETS. It lists several domestic and international funding mechanisms available to Kenyan businesses for clean technology and energy efficiency.

The paper analyzes how the Soufriere Marine Management Area (SMMA) in St. Lucia utilizes institutional adaptive capacity—specifically analytic deliberation, institutional variety, nesting, and networks—to achieve 'governance fit' in the face of environmental change. It finds that while the SMMA has evolved from top-down to participatory governance and demonstrates flexibility in rule application, challenges remain in including new stakeholders and addressing the distributional effects of conservation measures.

The document identifies significant gaps between the production of disaster risk assessments and their application in policy, particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean. It argues that risk assessments often fail because they are treated as one-off projects rather than continuous processes, lack alignment with political timescales, and are presented in overly technical language. To improve uptake, the guide recommends engaging end-users in design, targeting sectoral agendas, and building local technical capacity.

The paper examines how adaptive capacity—comprising assets, institutions, knowledge, innovation systems, and governance—interacts with social protection measures to enhance income and capabilities in agroforestry systems. In Zambia, the adaptive capacity of farmers strengthened their social protection to reduce drought impacts, while in Honduras, formal social protection measures improved adaptive capacity. The author argues that understanding these linkages is essential for planning adaptation initiatives and identifying specific areas of adaptive capacity for investment to ensure social protection measures are effective.

The 'Community-Led Disaster Risk Reduction' project in Mongu, Zambia, sought to enhance resilience to floods and droughts by strengthening community management capacity and promoting livelihood diversification. The review recommends that Oxfam and partners conduct further research on the impact of project-related advocacy, improve the inclusivity of community members in drought preparedness, and ensure the full dissemination of training and early-warning information.