The world’s climate is changing. Higher temperatures, changes in rainfall patterns, rising sea levels, and increasingly extreme weather will affect everyone. However, poor people living in the global south have been, and will be, hit hardest.

Climate change is affecting all aspects of development. The fight against poverty, hunger and disease, and the lives and livelihoods of billions of people is at stake. This month, as world leaders gather for the 18th Conference of the Parties (COP18) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change these are the issues which will underlie, whether explicitly or otherwise, their discussions.

IDS carries out extensive research and policy analysis on climate change and development. We aim to contribute to reducing poverty and increasing social justice in a changing climate, and to help shape economic growth that is both sustainable and inclusive.

Current projects and work

The Climate Change team at IDS work on three core research themes:

• Vulnerability and Resilience – Building adaptation and disaster risk reduction policies that contribute to eradicating poverty.
• Knowledge and Learning – Improving our understanding of whose voices and whose knowledge counts in climate policies.
• Low-carbon Development – Meeting the challenge of achieving sustainable economic growth.

Research at the IDS based STEPS centre looks at how pathways to sustainability – linking environmental integrity with social justice – can be built in today’s complex, dynamic world. The STEPS website has a range of resources relevant to the issues being discussed at COP18.

Our Knowledge Services department work on a number of climate change projects. These include online knowledge sharing tools and platforms supporting climate compatible development.