The current gap between scientific knowledge and practitioners' needs in addressing climate adaptation and mitigation is due to one-dimensional assessments of climate change impacts that create narrowly focused-policies. These policies provide insufficient guidance for long-term development addressing diversity of local circumstances.This special issue of Climate Policy will address a new area of current climate change research focused on linkages between climate change and sustainable development at the level of conceptual framework and methods. In particular, the papers address in an integrated way local development options involving both adaptation and mitigation in order to promote resilience to the climate change on human and natural systems. The special issue will provide policy and methodological guidelines for linking local development pathways with responses to climate change based on the collaboration between local practitioners, public and scientists, in order to translate scientific information relevant for the users, and conduct research that reflects local realities.