We offer some perspective on the climate-smart agriculture movement, which arose from a proposal by world agriculture stakeholders in the international climate negotiation process. As early as 1992, agricultural production was seen as a central issue in the negotiations, but one that was too politically charged for international coordination to make progress in that area. The climate-smart agriculture concept has more recently been based on the wager of 'triple win' solutions in agricultural productivity, climate change adaptation and greenhouse gas emission reduction. Each of these three dimensions corresponds to an issue within the negotiations (fight against poverty, food security, climate change mitigation) that has its own playing field and players, both nationally and internationally. The climate-smart agriculture concept cannot hide the fact that individual actions can never address all of the issues and that some crucial ones will inevitably be subject to political arbitration in situations where the stakeholders have unequal resources. We thus advocate that climate-smart agriculture initiatives explicitly clarify their political agenda and their underlying agricultural sector transformation pathways. That appears essential both at the national level and to facilitate international dialogue on climate strategies in agriculture, in line with the climate agreement expected in Paris in 2015. In conclusion, we give some thought to the crucial role of science, which should not seek to depoliticize but rather to help structure the political debate and effective international coordination.