Today, we constantly hear of a wounded planet in need of urgent human actions. Through patterns of production and consumption, we are facing problems such as resource depletion, climate change, desertification and deforestation. These patterns are largely determined by institutional arrangements. This paper is a contribution to the discussion of institutional adaptation to climate change. It discusses some of the fundamental issues associated with institutional arrangements and the changes that might be implemented within existing political and institutional settings in order to contribute to the process of sustainability in the context of global change.