Digital Document (pdf, doc, ppt, txt, etc.)

The European Green Deal aims to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050 while “leaving no one behind”. However, policies designed to mitigate and adapt to climate change have largely failed to consider gendered and intersectional impacts, resulting in uneven and unequal consequences for different social groups.

ACCTING explores the impact of Green Deal policies on the individual and collective behaviour of vulnerable groups, and how policies can effectively integrate gendered and intersectional perspectives to address the climate crises to promote an inclusive and socially just European Green Deal.

Building on desk research and fieldwork in 13 European countries, co-creation in Open Studios as well as workshops in which insights were operationalised into recommendations, the project has produced a policy brief which presents research findings and policy recommendations resulting from them.

Agriculture and rural areas are central to the European Green Deal. With the growing food crisis, environmentally sustainable and gender+ inclusive small-scale farming has the potential to play a prominent role in food security, as well as in soil regeneration, reduction of land degradation, mitigation of disasters, and the preservation of biodiversity and cultural diversity. The majority of the 10 million farms in the EU are small farms, only 30% of which are managed by women. There is an increasing amount of literature establishing a link between gender and sustainability, especially regarding sustainable farming practices: women farmers are more often involved in alternative and environmentally friendly approaches.
Yet, existing EU policies fall short of supporting environmentally sustainable, gender inclusive small farming, thereby strengthening existing vulnerabilities and missing opportunities to reach Green Deal objectives. Scientific literature indicates that to move future EU Common Agricultural Policy and other climate and rural policies towards a socially transformative, gender and ecologically-just direction, the push for gender equality will need to come from progressive farmers and civil society.

Non-governmental organisations play a key role in the formation and implementation of European Green Deal polices. They hold expertise in climate change, environmental issues, social justice and sustainable development issues. They work on the ground, locally and in solidarity with local communities, with and for vulnerable groups, representing their voices and interests. In doing so, they enjoy more public trust than governments, corporations, and the media. NGOs’ participation in climate change negotiations is significant: they provide policymakers and decision-makers with expertise, and they provide legitimacy to environmental governance. However, not all NGOs have successfully embedded democratic legitimacy in their organisation and actions, diversity in their governance structures and issues, and accountability of the organisation. For the Green Deal to be just and inclusive, it is crucial for civil society organisations to be inclusive, fully reflecting the diversity of the population and stakeholders.

Recognising the important role that companies can play towards fighting Climate Change and based on the preliminary findings of the ACCTING project, we provide a framework for companies to promote inclusiveness and Green Deal policies within their own workforce. The recommendations span aspects including knowledge creation, incentives, and encouragement of collective initiatives. They are addressed to companies of all sizes, as well as organisations that collectively represent companies at the local or sectoral level. The goal is to empower employees to become agents of change within the company and their communities, recognising and addressing issues that link Climate Change with pre-existing, amplified or newly created vulnerabilities and inequalities.