This review, produced by Action on Climate Today (ACT), highlights the particular role of policy entrepreneurs who work in policy-making arenas to promote policy change. They navigate the political complexity of both formal and informal systems of governance to promote successful adaptation mainstreaming processes, through brokering, advocacy and networking to influence policy. Building on previous policy influencing perspectives from the political science literature, the paper uses empirical examples from the ACT programme in South Asia to create a typology of influencing strategies. It suggests there are a number of ways to maximise the potential of a programme for policy influencing and entrepreneurship in order to mainstream climate change into development.