Ethiopia has emerged as one of Africa’s champions in responding to the implications of climate change. This is demonstrated by the strong commitment shown by the country’s political leadership on the issues. Much of this commitment has been driven by the impacts of climatic events in Ethiopia, mainly the drought episodes that have hit the country since the early 1970s. These experiences have contributed to the widespread understanding that climate change can have severe consequences, and has the potential to hold back economic progress and reverse the gains made in Ethiopia’s development. Although climate change poses significant threats, the international response – especially capacity-building and climate finance initiatives – offers considerable opportunities for poor countries like Ethiopia to leapfrog to adopting green technologies. Recognising this, Ethiopia has actively pursued sustainability objectives as part of its overarching national development plans, namely the first and second Growth and Transformation Plans, which cover the periods 2010–2015 and 2016–2020 respectively. This working paper documents Ethiopia’s lessons from the study ‘Lesson learning from national climate compatible development planning’, which aimed to capture and share institutional experiences of climate compatible development, and provide recommendations for the future.