Countries at 
all stages of economic development seek to improve the well-being 
of people, and their development priorities reﬂect different starting 
points and contexts. Different contexts include but are not limited to 
social, economic, environmental, cultural, or political circumstances, 
resource endowment, capabilities, international environment, and prior 
development. n regions with high dependency on fossil fuels for, among 
other things, revenue and employment generation, mitigating risks for 
sustainable development requires policies that promote economic and 
energy sector diversiﬁcation and considerations of just transitions 
principles, processes and practices (high conﬁdence). For individuals and 
households in low-lying coastal areas, in Small Islands, and smallholder 
farmers transitioning from incremental to transformational adaptation 
can help overcome soft adaptation limits (high conﬁdence). Effective 
governance is needed to limit trade-offs of some mitigation options 
such as large scale afforestation and bioenergy options due to risks 
from their deployment for food systems, biodiversity, other ecosystem 
functions and services, and livelihoods (high conﬁdence). Effective 
governance requires adequate institutional capacity at all levels 
(high confidence). {WGII SPM B.5.4, WGII SPM C.3.1, WGII SPM 
C.3.4; WGIII SPM D.1.3, WGIII SPM E.4.2; SR1.5 SPM C.3.4, 
SR1.5 SPM C.3.5, SR1.5 SPM Figure SPM.4, SR1.5 SPM D.4.3, 
SR1.5 SPM D.4.4}
4.6 Co-Beneﬁts of Adaptation and Mitigation for Sustainable Development Goals
Mitigation and adaptation actions have more synergies than trade-offs with Sustainable Development Goals 
(SDGs). Synergies and trade-offs depend on context and scale of implementation. Potential trade-offs can be 
compensated or avoided with additional policies, investments and ﬁnancial partnerships. (high conﬁdence)