ODI has launched a new meetings series on climate change, asking about the trade-offs and complementarities between climate change and poverty reduction. This Opinion argues that the discussions can be framed as three ‘calls’: a call to act; a call to collaborate; and a call to values. The call to act is directed to all those in the field of international development who do not currently work on climate change. This issue requires combined multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary attention – urban and rural, national and international, development and humanitarian. A call to collaborate maintains that climate change professionals need the specialist skills of development disciplines. Finally, a call to values, setting out the core principles that are required:
• Equal citizenship and equal rights;
• Equal opportunities;
• A social minimum; and
• Reasonable equity in outcomes.
This puts human rights and human development squarely at the centre of the discussion.