Abstract:
Combating climate change is intimately linked with peace and resource equity. Therefore, critical link
establishment between climate change and sustainable development is extremely relevant in global scenario.
Following the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, the international sustainable development agenda was taken up by
the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD); the climate change agenda was carried forward by
the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). International and local climate change
mitigation policies need to be assessed based on sustainability criteria. The increasing concern over climate
change drives towards the search of solutions enabling to combat climate change into broader context of
sustainable development. The core element of sustainable development is the integration of economic, social
and environmental concerns in policy-making. Therefore, article also analyzes post-Kyoto climate change
mitigation regimes and their impact on sustainable development. Wide range of post- Kyoto climate change
mitigation architectures has different impact on different groups of countries. Nevertheless, there are several
reasons for optimism that sustainable consumption patterns might develop. One is the diversity of current
consumption patterns and the growing minority concerned with ethical consumption. Another is the growing
understanding of innovation processes, developed to address technological change, but applicable to social
innovation. A third reason is the growing reflexivity of communities and institutions.
