The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of the evolution of climate smart agriculture (CSA), introduce its major components, and summarize the key debates associated with it within the context of climate change and agricultural policy debates. The first section provides an overview of international climate change policy followed by an introduction and analysis of CSA and its history. This is then followed by a discussion of three broad controversies related to CSA, namely the role of mitigation, the relationship of CSA to sustainable agriculture, and way biotechnology is treated in the CSA approach.