Gender and Climate Finance

Women, who form the majority of the world’s 1.4 billion poorest people, are often disproportionally affected by climate change impacts, largely due to persisting gender norms and discriminations. Women and men also contribute to climate change responses in different ways and have different capabilities to mitigate and adapt. The Cancun Agreements acknowledge that gender equality and the effective participation of women are important for all aspects of climate change, but especially for adaptation. Gender- responsive climate financing instruments and funding allocations are needed. This is a matter of using scarce public funding in an equitable, efficient and effective way. It also acknowledges that climate finance decisions are not made within a normative vacuum, but must be guided by acknowledging women’s rights as human beings. At the moment, gender considerations are not always addressed systematically in existing climate funds. The new Green Climate Fund, currently being operationalized, has the opportunity to distinguish itself from existing funds by integrating a gender perspective from the outset. Some key principles and actions for making climate financing instruments more gender- responsive are outlined.