Climate change is not merely a serious and urgent environmental issue, it also has serious adverse developmental impacts. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon labelled it ‘a defining issue of our era’. Human activities have contributed significantly to climate change, and still do: much scientific evidence suggests that the changes taking place may be far more rapid and dangerous than is reflected in the latest (2007) IPCC assessment.

While climate change results from activities all over the globe, actual contributions to it have been, and are, rather unevenly spread, with most contributions coming from the industrialized economies. There is little correlation between causing climate change and being exposed to its consequences: it seems clear now that the worst impacts will fall on developing countries. Climate change is likely to undermine the sustainability of livelihoods as well as resource bases for development.

One response to climate change is to cope with its impacts and suffer from the associated damages. Another one is to alter behaviour, institutions, structures and even development paths in such a way as to reduce and curb damage (‘adaptation’). A more fundamental response would be for the world economy to reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases and alter its patterns of land use in such a way as to prevent and curb warming itself, and to enhance sinks for greenhouse gases (‘mitigation’). There is a need to consider the links and feedbacks between climate change (and policies to address it) and development.