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There is no doubt that our climate is changing. This will pose huge challenges to nations, organisations, enterprises, cities, communities and individuals. Developing countries will suffer most from the adverse consequences of climate change, and some highly vulnerable regions and people are already being affected. There is increasing agreement that if temperatures rise by no more than 2 °C the earth’s integrity can be preserved and many of the potentially grave consequences of climate change could be avoided. This threshold is associated with per capita emissions of approximately two tonnes of CO2 equivalents1 each year. In terms of reducing greenhouse gases (GHG), the immense challenge this poses is shown in Figure 1. Industrialised countries, and soon also developing countries, need to sharply reduce their emissions.

Climate change is the defining challenge of our time. It will affect the poor and vulnerable first and foremost. The world’s response to climate change today will bear directly on the development prospects of a large part of the world’s population, particularly those who contributed least to the cause of climate change. Integrating climate change considerations in national and sectoral decision-making processes and in development assistance programmes is critical to meeting this challenge. Mainstreaming climate change, by integrating the risks and opportunities it poses, can help ensure that our efforts today continue to advance development even in the face of climate change.