Briefing note: Transformative climate action

This brief explains the context of the SCALA programme’s approach to transformational adaptation, which refers to a change in the fundamental attributes of a socioecological system in  anticipation  of  climate change and its impacts, in contrast to incremental  adaptation, which is adaptation that maintains the essence and integrity of a system or process at a given scale. Adaptation  interventions  can  be  qualified  as  transformational  when  they  include system-wide change or changes across more than one system, focus on the current and medium (future)  change  and  involve  direct  questioning  of  the  effectiveness  of  existing  systems,  social injustices  and  power  imbalances.