Adaptation to climate change in small island developing states (SIDS) is highly influenced by their specific socio-political context that is shaped by issues of scale and isolation. At the same time, their high degree of exposure to increasing climate hazards such as tropical cyclones and sea-level rise and the uncertainty associated with projected impacts poses challenges to national and local administrations. Features of social self-organisation, collective action and levels of trust within a society—often understood as “social capital”—can create enabling conditions for adaptive governance and increase small states’ resilience to climate change. Evidence from SIDS shows that social capital can promote adaptive governance by strengthening the collaboration of different stakeholder groups involved in community-based adaptation, mutual learning processes, engagement with indigenous and local knowledge, networks of migration, flows of information and resources, as well as conflict resolution and cooperation. The different features of social capital can be critical elements for sustainable adaptation in SIDS, depending on their specific adaptation needs and socio-political contexts. However, socio-economic and demographic changes as well as the scale and magnitude of impacts may present limits to societal adaptation capacities.