Strategic priority 2: Climate-compatible development
Making climate action and development action work together is an urgent global challenge. Recent years have seen these two ‘strands’ travelling along largely separate pathways, despite the clear need for collaboration to tackle the linked challenges of climate change and poverty.
ODI focuses on climate-compatible development – development that minimises the harm caused by climate impacts while maximising the opportunities for human development presented by a low-emissions, more resilient, future. Our work aims to generate high-quality research, analysis, communication and debate on four key areas:
- adaptation and resilience
- climate finance
- low carbon growth
- managing natural resources in a changing climate.
Our work
Adaptation and resilience
In December 2011 we published Rethinking support for adaptive capacity to climate change by our Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG), Climate Change, Environment and Forests programme (CCEF) and Water Policy Programme for the Africa Climate Change Resilience Alliance (ACCRA) Programme. The report has captured the interest of the leading international body on the assessment of climate change: the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has asked ODI to identify what drives success in African adaptation for its Fifth Assessment Report. Tom Mitchell, Head of CCEF, was an author of the influential 2012 Special Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation.
Climate finance
The ODI-managed Climate Funds Update has established itself as the leading online resource for independent information on climate-finance from the moment donors pledge funding to the actual disbursement of that funding on the ground. Our climate-finance work programme, supported by the Department for International Development (DFID), promotes more effective management and use of climate finance in developing countries, through a focus on both country-level implementation and trans-national mechanisms.
Low carbon growth
ODI has carved out an expert niche on how low-income countries could become more competitive in a carbon-constrained world. Our work with the Climate Development Knowledge Network, for example, has influenced policy around green growth in countries such as Zimbabwe, where we supported the integration of climate action into the development of Zimbabwe’s Medium Term Plan (2011-2015). Our flagship work programme ‘Creating Competitiveness for Poor Countries in a Carbon Constrained World’ is developing practical approaches to supporting poor countries to find an effective development path in a changing world.
Managing natural resources
ODI has taken the lead on the development of the European report on development (ERD 2012), alongside the Deutsche Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) and the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM). This major report on behalf of the European Commission aims to show how politicians can confront the growing scarcity of natural resources to make the leap towards inclusive and sustainable growth.
SP 1: New goals for a new era
The current agreed global framework for development impact (the Millennium Development Goals) ends in 2015. ODI supports the development of a new framework of goals and measures for a new development era, through reviewing evidence, developing proposals and supporting public debate.
SP 3: Resilience in fragile contexts
ODI is strengthening understanding of how fragile and conflict-affected societies can achieve development reliably through the strengthening of governance and social institutions.
SP 4: Inclusive growth in a volatile world
ODI is working to develop effective responses for developing countries to global volatility and shocks, helping them to sustain growth and poverty reduction.
SP 5: New models for action
ODI is supporting the development of new, more effective models for financing development and humanitarian action – engaging public, private and civil society actors.