Although developing countries are not known for major Green House Gas (GHG) emissions, they faced mounting environmental calamities and climate risks manifested by extreme events such as persistent droughts. Most of these countries were passive participants in the global climate governance until the late Paris agreement that introduced bottom-up governance initiatives. Mainly following the Paris agreement that triggered nationally determined contributions, several developing countries in the global south adopted national climate policies. These climate policies were shaped by different policy paradigms, actor networks and governance approaches. So far, a scant number of studies attempted to explain national climate policies in developing countries especially in Africa and existing studies focused on sector level adaptation actions. This study is proposed to explain national climate governance architecture across scales and policy subsystems in Ethiopia. Ethiopia formulated climate policy before the Paris agreement and it was also the first Least Developed Country (LDC) to submit an Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC). With a qualitative case study approach guided by interviews and policy document analysis, the study seeks to explain Ethiopia’s climate policy asking why the country has changed its position on climate change since 2011 and how the policy process was governed. The study has analytical purpose reckoned on contributing to the literature on climate governance and climate policy studies, more on developing countries domain.