To meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and similar national and global pledges, a shift to sustainable, accessible energy is urgently needed. Three quarters of global energy use as well as greenhouse gas emissions are associated with cities. In the Asia Pacific region, total and relative urban emissions growth rates exceed those of other regions. UN-Habitat aims to accelerate the access to renewable energy solutions with an emphasis on vulnerable urban communities in an integrated approach to emission reductions and to address the energy poverty crisis.

With a multi-country focus, the Asia-Pacific Programme on Urban Energy Transformation seeks to enhance energy processes to address the climate energy poverty crisis in urban settlements through the following ambition projects: ‘Green Transformation (GX)’, ​ aimed at addressing the climate and cost of living crises through energy poverty interventions, and ‘SURGe – Urban Energy’, focusing on connecting local, national and global levels for climate action to advance towards renewable energy and energy efficiency to tackle energy poverty.