This paper reviews knowledge about the impacts of climate change on eight development goal areas and argues that it is essential for climate change to be addressed in order not to compromise development efforts. Climate change will have wide-ranging consequences, direct and indirect, on development and poverty reduction and affect the achievability of any future development goals, argues the paper. The post-2015 process is seen as an opportunity to be more ambitious and engage a much wider range of stakeholders. It has the potential to play a role in steering global efforts to eradicate poverty and to shift to sustainable, low-emission and climate-resilient development pathways.