This strategy paper is based on findings developed in 2018 by Factor for the German Corporation for International Cooperation’s (GIZ) Support Project for the Implementation of the Paris Agreement (SPA), implemented on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU). Central parts of this project entailed the conceptualization of a theoretical model that can explain mitigation and adaptation linkages and their embeddedness within an overarching development framework. The energy sector of Caribbean Small Island and Development States (SIDS) was chosen as an initial example to study the applicability of the model’s assumptions and predictions, which were later on also refined in related sectors.