What Women Should Know About COP26

As a woman in business, it’s always important to stay up to date with current affairs, but COP26 is currently underway, and considering that "women are disproportionately and uniquely affected by the impacts of climate change" according to Mayesha Alam, Senior Fellow at United Nations University Centre, this is a conference you should have your ears especially open to. 

This year, discourse surrounding the convention places significant importance on addressing the gender disparity in regards to climate change.

So let’s delve into what impacts climate change is having on women, and how COP26 is planning to tackle these issues.

Priorities for Public Climate Finance in the Year Ahead

COP26 have laid out their 11 priorities for Public Climate Finance in the coming year, identifying one of them as the ‘gender-responsiveness of climate finance.’ As climate change is having a disproportionate impact on women, public climate finance needs to be distributed in a way that is gender inclusive. As of 2014, only 3% of bilateral climate finance had gender diversity as a primary indicator.

Furthermore, the climate finance that is available often struggles to reach grassroots initiatives, which are more likely to be led by women or marginalized groups. Danni Parks, the Director of the Whiteley Fund for Nature, agrees that more funding from governments, industry and philanthropists which meets the ‘scale’ of our environmental crises is “urgently needed to make grassroots conservation projects get off the ground globally.”

COP26 vows to put pressure on multilateral climate funds, banks, development financial institutions (DFIs) and other major donors to address these gaps in climate financing, essentially tackling two birds with one stone by combating the climate crisis whilst promoting initiatives founded and directed by women.

Gender Day at COP26

This year, COP26 has incorporated a day dedicated to gender issues to the convention, scheduled to take place on the 9th of November and consisting of a series of events concerning the relationship between gender issues and climate change.

Back in 2014, COP established the Lima Work Programme to advance gender balance to integrate gender consideration into the work of Parties and the Secretariat at climate conferences and during Paris Agreement negotiations. The programme has five priorities, two of which being to ensure the respect, promotion and consideration of gender equality and the empowerment of women, and to achieve and sustain full, equal, and meaningful participation of women in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process.

This year, Gender Day events include a Dialogue on Gender, Science, Innovation and Technology and a Virtual Gender Marketplace which will allow participants to virtually connect with those who work on gender and climate change through a 2D virtual world, offering an accessible platform for women speakers. 

Women in Finance Climate Action Group

On Wednesday November 3rd 2021, along similar lines, the Women in Finance Climate Action Group convened at COP26. Fronted by Aviva CEO Amanda Blanc, the group brings together women in business, public sectors, and civil society to address the link between gender inequality and climate finance, as well as the need for more female leaders in climate discussions. 

On the underrepresentation of women in private climate finance negotiations, Amanda Blanc said “you’ve got to be looking at something closer to 30-40% [of women] to make sure you’ve got good representation.” Currently, only 19% of International Monetary Fund and World Bank board members are female, whilst 80% of people displaced by climate change are women!

Other members of the Women in Finance Climate Action Group include Tanya Steele, CEO of WWF UK, Alison Rose, CEO of NatWest, and Irina Ghaplanyan, Senior Advisor of World Bank, and the group continues to seek improvements in women’s access to financial services.

Final Say

Women are still being underrepresented in climate negotiations as COP26 lacks female senior leadership. Co-founder of SHE Changes Climate Antionette Vermilye said “lack of female leadership in climate decisions affects our economy, our social structure, our ability to innovate and create solutions.” 

However, the efforts of those who are present and representing the interests of women at the convention inspire hope that we are moving in a direction that champions and favours women in business. 

Published 8 November 2021 for Empowering a Billion Women