CRiSTAL emerged from the Livelihoods and Climate Change project, an initiative of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), the Swiss Foundation for Development and International Cooperation (Intercooperation), the Stockholm Environment Institute - United States (SEI-US), and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The Livelihoods and Climate Change project examined how sustainable livelihood or ecosystem management and restoration projects reduced the vulnerability of communities to climate stress. In its second phase, the project aimed to develop a mechanism to help planners and managers of these types of projects take climate change into consideration.

CRiSTAL development and improvement has been funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (DANIDA), and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD).