USAID's Strategy

USAID's Global Climate Change and Development Strategy sets out principles, objectives and priorities for USAID climate change assistance from 2012 through 2016.

The overarching mission is to help developing country partners speed their transition to climate-resilient, low-emission, sustainable economic growth. This mission governs all underlying objectives and activites, together aiming to help countries slow the pace of greenhouse gas emissions while investing in resilient, sustainable growth and development.

Priorities

USAID's climate strategy has three objectives - Adaptation, Mitigation, and Integration - and three pillars, or priority areas of action - Adaptation, Clean Energy and Sustainable Landscapes.

• Adaptation means helping countries and communities prepare for and adapt to changes in climate by building the climate resilience of people, places and livelihoods
• Mitigation means helping countries slow or curb carbon emissions while promoting clean and sustainable economic development. Mitigation includes work in three main areas:
• Enhancing Capacity for Low Emission Development Strategies (EC-LEDS) supports climate-resilient, low-emission economic growth.
• Clean Energy supports investment in clean energy and energy efficiency.
• Sustainable Landscapes supports sustainable land-use planning and management. USAID has major investments in sustainable tropical forest management, in support of the U.S. policy on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD), and is expanding this to include investments in non-forest landscapes.
• Integration means factoring climate change knowledge and practice into all USAID programs to ensure all sector portfolios—agriculture, energy, disaster preparedness, democracy and governance, health, and others—are climate resilient and, when possible, curb greenhouse gas emissions.

Activities

USAID engages in a range of activities that support climate-smart planning and programs:

• We work directly with partner countries to help develop national strategies and policies that support low emissions growth and development.
• We help countries access and use the best available climate data and tools (i.e., geospatial data and early warning systems) to inform decisions in agriculture, disaster preparedness, natural resources management, and other areas.
• We test and demonstrate new ways to integrate climate knowledge and practice into food security, disaster preparedness, and other areas.
• We work to reduce USAID's own greenhouse gas emissions from operations in Washington and overseas.