Main Messages:World Development Report 2010Poverty reduction and sustainable development remain core global priorities.A quar-ter of humanity still lives on less than $1.25 a day. One billion people lack clean drinkingwater; 1.6 billion, electricity; and 3 billion, adequate sanitation. A quarter of all developingcountry children are malnourished. Addressing these needs must remain the prioritiesboth of developing countries and of development aid—recognizing that development willget harder, not easier, with climate change.Yet climate change must urgently be addressed.Climate change threatens all countries,with developing countries the most vulnerable. Estimates are that they would bear some 75to 80 percent of the costs of damages caused by the changing climate. Even 2�C warmingabove preindustrial temperatures—the minimum the world is likely to experience—couldresult in permanent reductions in GDP of 4 to 5 percent for Africa and South Asia. Mostdeveloping countries lack sufficient financial and technical capacities to manage increas-ing climate risk. They also depend more directly on climate-sensitive natural resources forincome and well-being. And most are in tropical and subtropical regions already subjectto highly variable climate.Economic growth alone is unlikely to be fast or equitable enough to counter threats fromclimate change, particularly if it remains carbon intensive and accelerates global warming.So climate policy cannot be framed as a choice between growth and climate change. In fact,climate-smart policies are those that enhance development, reduce vulnerability, and financethe transition to low-carbon growth paths.A climate-smart world is within our reach if we act now, act together, and act differentlythan we have in the past:

Acting now

is essential, or else options disappear and costs increase as the world com-mits itself to high-carbon pathways and largely irreversible warming trajectories. Climatechange is already compromising efforts to improve standards of living and to achieve theMillennium Development Goals. Staying close to 2�C above preindustrial levels—likelythe best that can be done—requires a veritable energy revolution with the immediatedeployment of energy efficiency and available low-carbon technologies, accompanied bymassive investments in the next generation of technologies without which low-carbongrowth cannot be achieved. Immediate actions are also needed to cope with the changingclimate and minimize the costs to people, infrastructure and ecosystems today as well asto prepare for the greater changes in store.

Acting together

is key to keeping the costs down and effectively tackling both adapta-tion and mitigation. It has to start with high-income countries taking aggressive actionto reduce their own emissions. That would free some “pollution space” for developingcountries, but more importantly, it would stimulate innovation and the demand for newtechnologies so they can be rapidly scaled up. It would also help create a sufficiently largeand stable carbon market. Both these effects are critical to enable developing countriesto move to a lower carbon trajectory while rapidly gaining access to the energy servicesneeded for development, although they will need to be supplemented with financialsupport. But acting together is also critical to advance development in a harsher envi-

ronment—increasing climate risks will exceed communities’ capacity to adapt. Nationaland international support will be essential to protect the most vulnerable through socialassistance programs, to develop international risk-sharing arrangements, and to pro-mote the exchange of knowledge, technology, and information.

Acting differently

is required to enable a sustainable future in a changing world. In thenext few decades, the world’s energy systems must be transformed so that global emissionsdrop 50 to 80 percent. Infrastructure must be built to withstand new extremes. To feed3 billion more people without further threatening already stressed ecosystems, agricul-tural productivity and efficiency of water use must improve. Only long-term, large-scaleintegrated management and flexible planning can satisfy increased demands on natu-ral resources for food, bioenergy, hydropower, and ecosystem services while conservingbiodiversity and maintaining carbon stocks in land and forests. Robust economic andsocial strategies will be those that take into account increased uncertainty and enhanceadaptation to a variety of climate futures—not just “optimally” cope with the climateof the past. Effective policy will entail jointly evaluating development, adaptation, andmitigation actions, all of which draw on the same finite resources (human, financial, andnatural).

An equitable and effective global climate deal is needed.Such a deal would recognizethe varying needs and constraints of developing countries, assist them with the financeand technology to meet the increased challenges to development, ensure they are notlocked into a permanently low share of the global commons, and establish mechanismsthat decouple where mitigation happens from who pays for it. Most emissions growth willoccur in developing nations, whose current carbon footprint is disproportionately lowand whose economies must grow rapidly to reduce poverty. High-income countries mustprovide financial and technical assistance for both adaptation and low-carbon growth indeveloping countries. Current financing for adaptation and mitigation is less than 5 percentof what may be needed annually by 2030, but the shortfalls can be met through innovativefinancing mechanisms.Success hinges on changing behavior and shifting public opinion.Individuals, as citi-zens and consumers, will determine the planet’s future. Although an increasing number ofpeople know about climate change and believe action is needed, too few make it a priority,and too many fail to act when they have the opportunity. So the greatest challenge lies withchanging behaviors and institutions, particularly in high-income countries. Public policychanges—local, regional, national, and international—are necessary to make private andcivic action easier and more attractive.