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Our work areas

Energy and Climate

75%

of global greenhouse gas emissions come from the energy sector.

3.5 billion

people, approximately, live in contexts that are highly vulnerable to climate change.

Our focus

Sustainable energy is critical to support both climate change mitigation by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and climate change adaptation by helping communities build resilience across key sectors, including agriculture and health.

Through our Climate Promise, UNDP works with over 120 countries to help them develop and implement ambitious climate mitigation and adaptation goals – also called Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs – under the Paris Agreement.  

Sustainable energy for climate change mitigation

The way we produce and consume energy is the leading driver of the climate crisis. Three-quarters of global greenhouse gas emissions come from our current fossil-fuel based energy sector. Transition out of fossil fuels and towards sustainable energy sources is the only way to stop the rise in global temperatures and its devastating effects on people and the wider natural world that we depend on. 

The three pillars of the Sustainable Energy Hub’s work climate change mitigation are:  

Sustainable energy for climate change adaptation

Climate change is here, and it impacts the world’s poorest the hardest. UNDP’s climate change adaptation work supports locally-driven climate-resilient pathways, uniting efforts across nature, climate and energy to help protect people and the planet from the impacts of the climate crisis. We have an opportunity, as UNDP, to advance integrated, holistic solutions.  

Sustainable energy solutions are a powerful means to enhance community resilience in the face of climate change. Key energy-climate change adaptation-resilience nexus areas include: