New digital book, “Mainstreaming climate compatible development”

At COP21 in Paris, the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) launched a new digital book“Mainstreaming climate compatible development” which presents insights from five years of partnership work to design and deliver climate compatible development.

Simon Maxwell, CDKN’s Executive Chair, says the book “demonstrates that climate compatible development offers great potential for strategic innovation by governments, civil society and the private sector”. There are many possibilities to achieve ‘win-win benefits’ for climate mitigation, adaptation and human development. However, he adds, “no-one should pretend that achieving climate compatible development will be friction free.”

Drawing on CDKN’s programme in more than 70 countries, “Mainstreaming climate compatible development” shares practical approaches to seven key challenges:

• First, eliminating ambiguity in the concept of climate compatible development, and exploring possible trade-offs in the implementation of climate-related policies that will deliver the Sustainable Development Goals and targets.
• Second, making the case and winning the argument, in countries where leaders face many competing demands on political capital and resources.
• Third, managing climate compatible development planning in ways that mainstream climate concerns into development planning and ensure cross-government coherence.
• Fourth, finding the resources to cover any additional costs of climate compatible development, drawing on international as well as domestic sources.
• Fifth, creating the right culture and instruments for implementation, to ensure that plans are not blown off course.
• Sixth, delivering at scale, so that impact is transformational in scale and irreversible.
• Seventh, linking the national to the global, so that national interests are well-represented in global negotiations, and global agreements are reflected in national action.

The book is intended for decision-makers, development planners and practitioners – including civil society groups – as well as donors working to address climate change in developing countries. It aims to offer a rich source of learning based on CDKN’s practical experience.

“Mainstreaming climate compatible development” is written by Mairi Dupar, Sam Bickersteth, Connie Espinosa, Ari Huhtala, Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, Carl Wesselink and Maria Jose Pacha, with the support of dozens of CDKN staff from across Latin America, Asia and Africa.

The authors encourage you to comment on the chapters. They intend to produce a revised version in 2016, based on reader feedback. Readers can contact the author team on cdknbook@cdkn.org with comments and suggestions.

Specifically, they invite readers’ views on: Which strategies are increasing resilience, curbing emissions and tackling poverty simultaneously? How are decision-makers grappling with sometimes conflicting climate predictions to make sound investments that will endure over decades of climate impacts? What are the trade-offs involved in making development more ‘climate compatible’ and what are the politics of decision-making? Which approaches are contributing to fairer outcomes for the most climate-vulnerable, and which decisions risk making the poor even poorer? The emerging answers to these questions can contribute to our collective endeavour to develop a secure, resilient world.

Read and comment on the book at: www.cdkn.org/mainstreaming

This blog originally appeared on the CDKN website.