This working paper explores the potential opportunities for 2015 as a crucial year for global action on climate change and development.

It argues that the post-2015 sustainable development goals (SDGs) should be seen as an opportunity for developing countries rather than a burden, given how important climate resilience is to protecting and furthering development progress in vulnerable countries. It argues that a stand-alone goal should be retained in the SDGs, but this must be alongside the mainstreaming of climate change into the other goals, such that climate and development do not become siloed. The paper also argues that the SDGs should be drafted in a way that allows for interpretation in a nationally relevant way and that is useful for informing national development plans – for example, Green Growth strategies – as well as reducing countries’ vulnerability to climate change.