Since adopting its first Gender Action Plan in 2014, CIF has been committed to promoting gender equality all across its portfolio of investments. A key part of this is to recognize women’s roles as change agents and decision-makers in low-carbon development and resilience-building.
“As a woman, as a mother of three wonderful girls, and as the head of one of the largest climate finance funds in the world, I call upon all those engaged in climate policy and action to make space for women as change agents and leaders,” says Mafalda Duarte, CEO of CIF. “Women are underrepresented at all levels of climate action. We only hold 15% of top jobs as ministers of environmental sectors, and less than 40% of head and deputy heads of delegations at the COP26 were occupied by women. This is why at CIF, we are committed to building the tools needed to ensure that our investments contribute to incorporating women at all levels of climate leadership.”
CIF investments have already made an impact on the lives of individual women and girls, including by enabling them to play more active roles in climate planning and resource governance. But achieving true gender equality requires systemic changes to overcome barriers to women’s full participation in institutional processes, in both the public and private sectors.
Institutional changes can occur in both formal and informal settings, through changes in norms and governance mechanisms and policies, systemic shifts through formal participation in public planning and budgeting, and shifts in labor markets, employment entry requirements, credit markets, and/or policy measures.
Such changes need to occur at the national, sectoral, and local levels. It is crucial for women to have strong voices in the development of national climate policies and plans, for instance, so the results are equitable and gender-responsive. At the same time, it is important to pursue changes in the private sector, from advocating for increases in the number of women on boards, to pushing for gender parity at all levels of the workforce.
In order to advance that goal, CIF is partnering with the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and EnGen Collaborative on a new Women’s Climate Leadership Initiative.
“At IIED, we believe that without gender equality and equity there can be no social justice or sustainable development” says Clare Shakaya, IIED’s Director of Climate Change. “We commit to use our research evidence to support gender and intersectional approaches, and to work in partnership with others to support women’s climate leadership capabilities at all levels.”
“Ensuring climate justice demands engaging, advocating for and valuing the unique roles, knowledge, and abilities of women and gender minorities in all our diversity,” says Margaux Granat, Founder and Director of EnGen Collaborative.
CIF has already had some success in supporting enhanced female participation in local user groups, such as water user associations; expanding their role in decision-making around social protection programs; and fostering formal participation in national climate planning – for instance, by posting gender focal points in adaptation planning units.
Together, CIF, IIED and EnGen will develop a conceptual framework, a roadmap, and a compendium of best practices for achieving the institutional changes needed to achieve inclusion of women, particularly women from the underrepresented groups – racial and ethnic minorities, Indigenous People, women with disabilities and others -in climate leadership. This work will be carried out through extensive consultations with a wide range of stakeholders. The goal is to generate and share actionable knowledge in the context of CIF-funded projects with particular focus context of CIF’s new programs, such as the Accelerating Coal Transition Investment Program (ACT), Renewable Energy Integration (REI), and Nature Solutions.