The Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) funded National Climate Compatible Development Planning project – Learning from Experiences in Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique and Rwanda (2013-2016)
Climate compatible development asks policy makers to consider ‘triple win’ strategies that result in low emissions, build resilience and promote development simultaneously.
Synthesis report
Country reports
Learning Lessons from National Climate Compatible Development Planning in Four Countries in Africa
- Download the full paper (PDF, 1.6mb)
Lessons from National Climate Compatible Development Planning in Rwanda
Download the report (PDF, 2.7mb).
Climate Compatible Development: Lessons from Mozambique
Working papers
Becoming a climate-resilient green economy – Planning for climate compatible development in Ethiopia
Climate compatible development in the ‘Land of a Thousand Hills’ – Lessons from Rwanda
Find out more
- Read more about the project at the CDKN website.
External news
- Climate Change Experts Discuss Funding for Green Development, All Africa, 23 Jul 2015.
- Financing Climate Compatible Development, Blasting News, 11 Aug 2015.
Opinion piece blog posts
High fiduciary standards and Rwanda’s access to climate finance
Strong fiduciary standards are key for developing countries to access, absorb and spend climate finance effectively. CIDT associate Debbie Caldwell looks at how Rwanda’s fiduciary management practices help position the country to tap into international climate funds.
The impact of 2014 elections on climate change governance in Mozambique
After the presidential elections in 2014, Mozambique underwent significant changes in government to reduce bureaucracy and government spending. Celso Tamele, a biosystems engineer and consultant, considers the consequences for climate change governance.
Ethiopia’s investment in climate compatible development
Ethiopia’s Ministry of Finance and Economic Cooperation was recently accredited to receive funds from both the Green Climate Fund and the Adaptation Fund. Robi Redda, CDKN’s Ethiopia Country Engagement Leader, and Tesfaye Hailu, CDKN’s Ethiopia Programme Manager, reflect on five factors that contributed to Ethiopia’s success.
CIDT’s role on this project
CIDT is leading this project to capture, synthesise and share country solutions and best practice emerging from national-level climate change planning in four Africa countries. The project is spread over three current phases, with a further phase in development:
- Phase 1 included a workshop to kick-start the sharing of experiences, and initiate the national design process.
- Under phase 2 lessons were identified and triangulated through individually designed country processes. Validation workshops were held in each country to discuss the outcomes and key learning.
- In Phase 3 five ‘knowledge’ products per country were developed, including nationally-owned country reports, working papers, blogs, PowerPoint presentations and ‘talking heads’ videos from national level climate compatible development planning. Key to this phase was engaging key government stakeholders in the editing and finalisation of materials, particularly the country reports.
- Phase 4 consists of the South-South Learning Exchange, an intensive 3-day workshop in Rwanda attended by 55 participants from 14 countries in July 2015. After 6 months the team follow up with participants to discover the impact that the event has had on their work.
Key messages around climate compatible development
- Climate change presents threats and opportunities for development. Climate compatible development seeks to minimise these threats and maximise the opportunities.
- It is a response to a new development landscape of risks, uncertainties and changing patterns of innovation, production and trade.
- Policy makers must promote growth and social development whilst building climate resilience, cutting emissions or keeping them low.
- Unless policy makers integrate mitigation, adaptation and development strategies they will miss efficiency savings and may pursue strategies that solve one problem but aggravate others.
Key recommendations for policy makers
- Develop national and sub-national governance systems, including legislative, institutional architecture, regulatory and accountability measures, that can take advantage of combining efforts to lower emissions or keep emissions low, build resilience, grow and develop.
- Integrate measures to build resilience and reduce risk into development and low emissions growth strategies at all scales.
- Ensure that transitions to resilient low emissions growth have significant benefits for poor people.
- Acknowledge and plan for the threats and opportunities associated with a new international, climate-related development landscape.