This policy brief is one of a series produced by the Climate Smart Initiative (CSI), a two-year action research project (2013–15) designed to improve how Ethiopia’s national rural safety net deals with climate change issues. This brief considers how the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) can help mitigate or curb the production of greenhouse gases (GHG), one of the main human causes driving climate change. It also considers the potential of international carbon finance, and the CSI’s role in developing the evidence base needed to access these funds.