In the run up to Climate Week NYC, each week we focus on one of the ten themes that capture the discussions, events and activations that make Climate Week NYC into the biggest climate event of its kind. This week: Finance.
Ahead of their event The road to Environmental Justice: Financing women’s rights on Thursday September 25, GWL Voices gives 5 reasons why women’s rights should be well resourced if we want climate action to be just at all levels and all stages.
1 - We are still a long way from achieving gender equality, 134 years to be precise. Gender inequality in all its forms - from pay gaps and glass ceilings to gender-based violence and the digital gender gap - persists. This means women and girls, particularly in the Global South, are hit first and hardest, and face disproportionate hurdles to building back. Even the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) identifies that women are among those most impacted, and that climate change risks deepening existing inequalities.
2 - Women and girls are not merely victims of climate injustice, they are powerful agents of change. Evidence shows that women are more likely to make the more sustainable choice when in power. Still, women only represent 28% of environment ministers worldwide, and only 35% of delegates at COP29 were women. If half of the world’s population continues to be excluded from the most important climate decisions, the road to climate justice will be unaffordably long.
3 - The climate crisis impacts girls’ right to life, education, an adequate standard of living, and health - including their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). From having to walk longer distances to fetch water, to forced school drop-outs and early marriages, and even increased mortality in disasters, the gendered impacts of climate change are undeniable.
In the worst-case scenario, climate change may push 240 million additional women and girls into food insecurity by 2050 (compared to 131 million more men and boys). Finding - and funding - solutions that support women’s rights in the context of climate change is essential.
4 - Women’s ancestral knowledge and stewardship is already protecting some of earth’s most vital areas. Especially rural and indigenous women are doing imperative, often unpaid, environmental care work. However, this work is neither valued nor rewarded. If compensated, women’s unpaid care work alone would add at least $10.8 trillion per year to the global economy, a figure three times larger than the tech industry.
5 - Women and girls have proven they can lead climate solutions, yet they remain chronically underfunded. According to the Report of the Standing Committee on Finance from COP29, only 4% of mitigation finance—and an even lower 2% of financing for adaptation—goes toward supporting women and girls.
We must change how we distribute our resources for our climate efforts to be just, effective, and enduring. An especially promising untapped resource for boosting climate action, are women’s organizations and women-led businesses. Investing in their efforts both empowers women and strengthens mitigation and adaptation outcomes.
2024 was the hottest year on record and the first to breach the 1.5 degrees limit set by the Paris Agreement. We know there’s no time to waste. As leaders, civil society, and businesses gather at Climate Week NYC and prepare for COP30 in Brazil, the message is clear: climate solutions that sideline half the population will fail. Supporting women’s rights, financing their innovation, and ensuring their full participation is how we fast-track action, invest for the greatest impact, and create a truly better world for all.