Although urban centers are often ill-prepared to meet the basic needs of rapidly expanding populations, the urban poor are incredibly resourceful people, with their own networks and the proven capacity to save and invest in the betterment of their communities. Climate change can stimulate action that improves and transforms the most vulnerable urban communities.

This video, narrated by UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Angélique Kidjo, tells the stories of the winners of the 2015 Momentum for Change Awards, under the Urban Poor category.

Climate change is happening now and its effects are felt most by the world’s poorest and most marginalised communities. Please share to keep climate change top of the global agenda.

Lighting a Billion Lives is a global initiative to facilitate clean energy access and the delivery of last mile energy services for basic and productive use. The initiative enables energy poor communities to transition from traditional and inefficient energy sources to modern, more efficient and sustainable energy solutions. The initiative accelerates market development for clean energy technologies through knowledge sharing, capacity building and market seeding.

Effective responses to climate change require efforts by both the public and private sectors to develop and disseminate new environmentally sound technologies (ESTs) on a global scale, as well as to adapt them to local needs. However, due to a number of market failures and specific uncertainties, the spread of green technologies is less than optimal, which necessitates additional incentives. Based on a review of recent literature, the present Global Challenges