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Gender and climate financeAs the Earth’s average surface temperatures rises, so do the associated costs. Because
marginalized communities and groups (e.g., women, immigrants, the elderly, thedisabled) are more exposed to climatic risk, the costs of climate change are more difficult
for them. Women in particular are structurally vulnerable, and climate change canworsen existing gender-based inequities that keep them impoverished and marginalized.
Climate finance (‘financial flows mobilized by industrialized country governments andprivate entities that support climate change mitigation and adaptation in developing
countries’1) can catalyse the much-needed transition to zero-carbon and climate-resilient
development while also fostering equitable social policy, including gender equality andwomen’s empowerment. While the recent integration of gender considerations into
key multilateral climate finance mechanisms, including the recently operationalized
Green Climate Fund, are steps in the right direction, gender considerations have yet
to be effectively mainstreamed in ongoing climate change programmes and activities,
and national planning. To enhance the efficacy of supported actions and ensure theirlong-term viability, hence maximizing the impact of climate finance, existing funding
mechanisms across scales need to tackle deeply rooted structural inequities.

Gender-responsive climate finance is more effective© UNDP

Gender equality is a fundamental human right – it is also ‘smart economics’. An increasing body of evidenceshows that gender equality and women’s empowerment would yield greater returns to economic growth,2and, more broadly, to sustainable development.3 Thus, it follows that “incorporating gender awareness andgender criteria into climate financing mechanisms and strategies would likewise constitute ‘smart climate
finance.’”4 Nevertheless, women do not have easy or adequate access to funds to cover weather-related
losses or to avail themselves of adaptation technologies.5 The reasons for this range from cultural and social
barriers in education, political participation and decision-making processes to legal restrictions on access tocapital, markets and land ownership.6 To illustrate, 9 in 10 countries in the world currently have at least one
law impeding women’s economic opportunities,7 including access to credit, and only in two countries in theworld does the share of women in parliament match their share in the population.8

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Climate change comes with a big price tag
It is hard to predict the economic impact of climate change across scales and sectors. However, researchcontinues to be conducted exploring the costs associated with the changing climate, resulting in a rangeof estimates. The variance in estimates notwithstanding, the consensus is that unmitigated climatechange will be very expensive. A recent study shows that unmitigated climate change can lead to a
decline of the global economy by 23 percent by 2100.9 Another study suggests that inaction on climatechange will cost an additional $44 trillion by 2060.10
Estimates on the cost of adaptation and mitigation efforts vary widely, with the cost of the climate change
response by 2030 ranging from $249 billion to $1,371 billion annually.11 On the adaptation side, theWorld Bank estimates that costs would be in the range of $75 billion to $100 billion per year between
2010 and 2050, assuming the Earth’s average surface temperature will be about 2°C warmer by 2050.12
The international community is now mobilizing resources to finance the mitigation and adaptation
actions needed to adequately respond. At COP 15, as part of the Copenhagen Accord, developed
countries pledged $30 billion in ‘fast start’ finance from 2010–2012, with a pledge to increase thefinancing to $100 billion annually by 2020. Because many climate finance mechanisms are based onvoluntary contributions, this constitutes a huge resource challenge, especially given the recent upheavals
in the world economy. Nevertheless, there has been a notable increase in the flow of climate funds inrecent years – global climate finance increased by 18 percent in 2014, making the year a standout assome $391 billion was invested in low-carbon and climate-resilient growth.13
Climate finance helps mobilize development funds to assist developing countries in reducing greenhousegas emissions (GHGs) and adapting to the impacts that cannot be avoided. The current climate financearchitecture is complex and involves numerous private and public players. There are over 50 international
public funds, 45 carbon markets and 6,000 private equity funds providing climate change finance.14
Despite the finance architecture already in place, the present level of climate finance remains inadequate.
With the adoption of the Paris Agreement, the implementation of the climate actions proposed by morethan 160 countries may necessitate new sources of finance. For example, while 2014 witnessed the largest
flow in climate finance (both public and private), the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that
$13.5 trillion will be needed, over the course of the next 15 years (2015–2030), for investment in energy
efficiency and low-carbon technologies to implement the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions(INDCs) made as part of the Paris Agreement adopted in 2015, and an additional $3 trillion will be needed
to limit the global temperature increase to 2°C.15 What’s more, even with the existing climate funds in place,
many developing countries and groups still lack the capacity to adequately access them.

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Gender and climate finance3

Box 1

Gender issues around climate finance●●

Only 0.01 percent of all worldwide funding supports projects that address both climate change andwomen’s rights.

●●

In 2011 and 2012, only $469 million – just 2 percent of all bilateral aid – was directed towards initiatives
that had women’s economic empowerment as a principal objective.

●●

In 2015, just 14 out of 193 (7 percent) of Finance Ministers globally were women.

●●

In 2015, female representation in the governing bodies of the major climate funds was, on average, just
22 percent.

●●Following the adoption of a Gender Policy for the Global Environment Facility (GEF) in 2011, genderresponsive projects in Latin America increased by 75 percent relative to the level of such projects
implemented before the adoption of the gender mandate.

●●

Targeted investments in gender equality and women’s empowerment would also yield returns inenvironmental conservation, achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), poverty
alleviation and social policy. For example, the number of malnourished children is 60 percent higher
in countries where women do not have the right to own land and 85 percent higher in countries where
women lack any access to credit.

●●

Globally, women occupy 21 percent of seats in national parliaments. In Latin America and the
Caribbean they do better, with around 25 percent of seats. In the parliaments of Arab States, they holdless than 14 percent of seats.

●●

A 2012 assessment of Climate Development Mechanism (CDM) projects concluded that only five of the
3,864 projects (0.13 percent) included gender considerations within project documentation.

© UNDP

Sources: GGF & INWF (2015); Aguilar, L. et al. (2015); UNDP (2014); UNFCCC (2012)16

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© UNDP

Climate finance could catalyse women’s empowerment
Poverty, inequality and climate change are intrinsically linked. Gender disparities in ownership and accessto resources (such as land, credit and technology), coupled with sociocultural barriers, impoverish women,
lower their adaptive capacity and increase their exposure to climatic risk. Because women’s livelihoods tend
to be climate-sensitive, climate change imperils their lives more than it does men’s.17 Conversely, women’s
unique knowledge of community dynamics and skills in the use and management of natural resources add
value to the climate effort by enhancing the efficiency and sustainability of climate change response efforts.
Equitable climate finance can enhance the climate response effort while simultaneously promoting
achievement of the 17 SDGs launched to guide development action for the next 15 years,18 including
SDG 1 (poverty reduction) and SDG 5 (gender equality). One way climate finance can leverage genderequality is by prioritizing adaptation and mitigation projects that yield maximum co-benefits to the poor,
including women. For example, access to sustainable energy technologies would reduce the drudgery
associated with women’s energy production and use while also contributing to a reduction in theirdependency on solid fuels, the use of which contributes 25 percent to global black carbon emissions.19
Beyond helping remedy gender imbalances, targeting and involving women and men equitably in theimplementation of existing climate finance mechanisms would help ensure the sustainability and efficiencyof such mechanisms.20 To this end, these mechanisms must have lucid policies and reporting systems inplace to ensure that gender considerations are duly taken into account during project implementation.

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Box 2The Bagepalli CDM biogas project

Financed by selling Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM),
the Bagepalli Biogas Programme (UNFCCC Project #0121), registered in December 2005, can be cited as agood climate finance practice that benefits the planet, women and poor communities. The objective of the
project was to displace the use of non-renewable biomass with clean, sustainable and efficient biogas units
that convert cow and goat dung to cooking gas. The project benefited 5,500 poor households in the Kolar
region of India by providing biogas digesters that provided clean cooking gas.
Through the use of the biogas plants an estimated 19,800 CERs were saved and traded on the carbon market
with industry buyers in the industrialized world. Women and their families benefited from the project not
only in savings (by avoiding the cost of kerosene) and the creation of employment opportunities, but also insharing from the proceeds of the income generated by CERs, which, after using the money to defray the costof installation of the biogas plants, were distributed to women in the participating households. The project
also reduced the time and drudgery associated with energy collection, improved families’ health by reducing
indoor pollution, and contributed to the conservation of forest resources and the reduction of GHG emissions.

Adapted from Bairiganjan (2008)21

Progress on gender in key multilateralclimate finance mechanisms
There has been progress on gender in global climate financing mechanisms in recent years owing largely
to persistent advocacy, as well as to a growing recognition of the evidence of the benefits, in terms ofincreased efficacy and effectiveness, of projects that integrate gender.22
There are now varying levels of gender considerations and integration in the current climate funds,
especially in the prominent multilateral climate finance mechanisms. For example, the Green Climate
Fund (GCF), which was set up in 2010 to help support the transition to low-emission and climateresilient development, has incorporated gender into its governing instrument and has a Gender Policy andAction Plan. Similarly, the Clean Investment Funds (CIF), a set of financing instruments to support thetransition towards climate-smart development in developing countries, has a Gender Action Plan that
was approved in 2014. While the multilateral funds are only a small subset of a plethora of private andpublic funding streams,23 they channel significant funding and, perhaps more importantly, their genderconsiderations set an example for other funds and the funding actions of national actors. Beyond existing
financial mechanisms, many international intergovernmental, non-governmental and governmentalorganizations also integrate gender considerations into their budgetary processes – for example, UNDP’s
gender strategy requires that all projects and programmes allow budgeting for gender mainstreaming.

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© Scott Wallace / World Bank

Box 3

Gender progress in the international climate process

Most of the existing climate funds were hardly gender responsive. For example, in 2012, 0.13 percent (5in 3,864 projects) of CDM projects assessed at the time included gender considerations within project
records. Now, more than 50 UNFCCC decisions support gender integration in the climate effort. The Cancun
Agreements (COP 16) specifically acknowledge the importance of gender equality and women’s participation
for all aspects of the response to climate change. Similarly, the Paris Agreement contains references togender balance, gender-responsive action and gender equality, and 40 percent of the mitigation pledges
under the Paris Agreement (INDCs) explicitly mention gender or women (see UNFCCC, 2012; and USAID,
201624). Moreover, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has set gender equality and women’s
empowerment as a stand-alone goal (SDG 5). This progress is validation of the fact that gender equality is
not only a basic human right but also a key prerequisite for sustainable development.

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Gender and climate finance7© UNDP

Addressing the ‘implementation gap’ – towards moremeaningful gender mainstreaming in climate funds
Despite steady progress towards greater gender sensitivity in the current climate finance regime(especially within multilateral climate funds), many existing mitigation and adaptation financing
schemes have yet to deliver on women’s empowerment by systematically and effectively linking genderand climate finance. Mitigation activities and associated financing have tended to focus more on largescale energy efficiency and/or renewable energy projects.25 Consequently, many finance programmes andstrategies tend to focus on energy and power sources but neglect projects such as water filtration plants,
mass transportation and agroforestry projects that benefit the poor, primarily composed of women.
These projects tend to achieve similar mitigation benefits while also helping to advance social progress.

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As at the global level, there are many efforts at the national level to engender climate financing. Many
countries now have policies that advocate gender mainstreaming within their national climate efforts,
albeit in different ways and with varying degrees of success. In this regard, a key challenge is to ensurethat ambitious goals set in policy documents actually translate into tangible results for communities atthe local level. Countries must continue to promote inclusion and social justice as key ingredients of
their national development in general and their climate efforts in particular. There are useful tools andresources for ensuring gender-responsive implementation of climate change projects and activities at
the national level, such as the UNDP Gender Responsive National Communications Toolkit,26 whichaims to strengthen the capacity of national governments and assist them in integrating gender equality
into the development of National Communications; the Guide to Gender Mainstreaming in UNDP
Supported GEF Financed Projects;27 the Capacity Building Package on Gender Mainstreamingin Mitigation and Technology Development and Transfer Interventions;28 and the IUCN Climate
Change Gender Action Plans (ccGAPs), which aim to ensure that national climate change efforts
mainstream gender into policies and programming so that both men and women have equal access toand opportunities and potential benefits from climate change response.29

Box 4

Lessons on mitigation financing30●●

Gender mainstreaming throughout any project is essential to its success since the results are mosteffective when gender issues are integrated from the outset.

●●

Socially disaggregated data that are intentionally gathered throughout the project cycle support more
effective projects. Systematic gender-focused data collection, targets, and indicators help to properly
analyse and demonstrate the benefits of paying attention to gender equality in climate change
mitigation.

●●

Economic and social co-benefits for both men and women help secure national and community
support for activities that contribute to climate change mitigation, and ensure their long-term viability.

●●

Integration of gender equality issues affects project efficacy and impact, e.g., by improving the resultsof large-scale transport and grid-based energy infrastructure projects, as well as small-scale, off-grid
initiatives.

●●

Gender-sensitive government and institutional policies are key factors in the formulation of more
inclusive climate mitigation measures and investments.

●●

Many governments, funders and institutions need guidance on how to incorporate gender considerations
in ways that lead to more effective and inclusive projects, in which benefits are shared equitably.

Source: WEDO (2015)31

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Gender and climate finance9Key Messages●●

Climate finance funds and mechanisms must be attuned to the needs of and involve themost vulnerable groups of society, including poor women and men. To complement broader
sustainable developmental goals, including inclusive growth, gender equality and poverty
eradication, private and public climate finance mechanisms need to ensure the effective
participation of vulnerable populations, such as women and women’s groups, as key stakeholders
in decision-making processes at all levels. This will enhance the efficacy of supported actions andensure their long-term viability.

●●

Encourage a paradigm shift in climate finance thinking so that the needs and priorities of thepoor and marginalized segments of society (including women), become a priority in approving
investments on climate change. To ensure that climate finance efforts make a difference inbuilding resilience and reducing vulnerability, gender equality and women’s empowerment
dimensions should be mainstreamed within all climate finance governance structures, programmes
and procedures as well as within all phases of the project cycle – its design, implementation,
monitoring and evaluation.

●●

Engage with the broader family of existing climate finance frameworks, networks, andinstruments to ensure more meaningful integration of gender perspectives in their governanceand processes. The recent progress in multilateral finance mechanisms in terms of gender policy
needs to be supported and expanded to cover the private sector and non-market and market
finance mechanisms at national and global levels. It is critical that ongoing investment and financial
support for climate change responses break the current cycle of gender-blind decision-making
processes within the larger global financial structure. In this regard, streamlining application
and approval procedures for climate funds could help reduce the time and cost for women andcommunity groups to gain access to resources. Gender-based criteria for fund disbursement andproject selection should also be developed to encourage gender mainstreaming in all funded
projects and to ensure that small-scale projects – particularly those involving women – aresupported and targeted for funding.

●●

Make good use of national-level climate finance tools, such as national climate funds (NCF)
and climate finance readiness strategies, which help countries manage, coordinate, implement
and account for international and domestic climate finance. Such tools would help countries
strengthen their national capacities to use climate finance effectively as well as to integrate theseresources appropriately within their national development planning and sustainable development
goals. Issues of accountability, efficiency and good governance need to be addressed so that
financing for adaptation and mitigation activities is used fairly and transparently. In this process,it is critical that these national-level finance tools channel funds in a gender-responsive mannerthat catalyses low-emission, climate-resilient development for both women and men. Tools such as
the Gender Responsive National Communications Toolkit, UNDP-GEF Gender Mainstreaming

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Guide, Capacity Building Package on Gender Mainstreaming in Mitigation and Technology
Development and Transfer Interventions, and ccGAPs (IUCN) could be beneficial in helping
countries set gender priorities within exiting national climate policy frameworks. Further, genderbudgeting and gender audits in all funds will ensure that the money invested will serve to improve
the situation of women, as well as men. Such budgeting and audit strategies can help address
gender gaps in budgets as well as emphasize the reprioritizing of financial resources within activities
in addition to increasing overall expenditures.

REFERENCES
1.

Stadelmann, M., Michaelowa, A. and Roberts, T. J., ‘Difficulties in accounting
for private finance in international climate policy’, Climate Policy 13, no. 6(2013), pp. 718–737.

2.

McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), ‘The Power of Parity: How Advancing
Women’s Equality Can Add $12 Trillion to Global Growth’, September 2015;see also World Bank, World Development Report 2011, Washington, D.C.

3.

Klugman, J. et al., Voice and Agency: Empowering Women and Girls for Shared
Prosperity, (Washington, D.C.: World Bank Group, 2014); UN Women, The
World Survey on the Role of Women in Development 2014: Gender Equality
and Sustainable Development (New York: United Nations,2014).

4.

Liane Schalatek, ‘Gender and Climate Finance: Double Mainstreaming for
Sustainable Development’, Heinrich Böll Foundation, Washington D.C.,
May 2009.

5.

Ibid.

6.

UNDP, Human Development Report 2014.

7.

World Bank Group, Women, business and the law 2016: Getting to equal(Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 2015).

8.

UNDP, Human Development Report 2014.

9.

Burke, M., Hsiang, S. M. and Miguel, E., ‘Global non-linear effect oftemperature on economic production’, Nature 527 (2015), pp. 235–239.

Sustaining Human Progress: Reducing Vulnerabilities and Building Resilience(New York: UNDP, 2014); and United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC), ‘Benefits of the Clean Development Mechanism’,2012.
17. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), The State of Food and Agriculture
2010–11 (Rome: FAO, 2011).
18. United Nations, ‘Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development’ (Adopted by the General Assembly on 25 September 2015,
New York), document A/RES/70/1.
19. See Ramanathan, V. and Carmichael, G., ‘Global and regional climatechanges due to black carbon’, Nature Geoscience 1 (2008), pp. 221–227.
20. Aguilar et al., Roots for the future (2015).
21. Bairiganjan, S., ‘Bringing Clean Energy to Rural India: A Case Study of
the Bagepalli CDM Biogas Project’, Institute for Financial Management
and Research, Centre for Development Finance, Working Paper Series,
December 2008.
22. Aguilar et al., Roots for the future (2015).
23. See Flynn, ‘Blending Climate Finance Through National Climate Funds’(2011).

10. Channell, J. et al., ‘Energy Darwinism II. Why a Low Carbon Future Doesn’t
Have to Cost the Earth’, Citi GPS: Global Perspectives & Solutions, August
2015.

24. UNFCCC, ‘Benefits of the Clean Development Mechanism’ (2012); UnitedStates Agency for International Development (USAID), “Gender in
Mitigation Actions”, Environment & Gender Information (EGI) Brief I, April
2016 Edition.

11. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Human Development
Report 2011. Sustainability and Equity: A Better Future for All (New York:UNDP, 2011).

25. UNDP, ‘Clean Development Mechanism: Exploring the Gender Dimensionsof Climate Finance Mechanisms’, 2010.
26. UNDP, ‘Gender Responsive National Communications Toolkit’, 2015.

12. World Bank, ‘The Cost to Developing Countries of Adapting to Climate
Change: New Methods and Estimates’, Consultation Draft, 2010.

27. UNDP, ‘Guide to Gender Mainstreaming in UNDP Supported GEF Financed
Projects’ (Draft dated 27 October 2016; public release forthcoming).

13. Buchner, B. et al., ‘Global Landscape of Climate Finance 2015’, Venice,
Climate Policy Initiative (CPI), November 2015.

28. UNDP, “Gender Mainstreaming in Mitigation and Technology Development
and Transfer Interventions,” 2015.

14. Flynn, C., ‘Blending Climate Finance Through National Climate Funds: A
Guidebook for the Design and Establishment of National Funds to Achieve
Climate Change Priorities’ (New York: UNDP, 2011).

29. Pearl-Martinez, R., Aguilar, L., Rogers, F. and Siles, J., ‘The Art of
Implementation: Gender Strategies Transforming National and Regional
Climate Change Decision-Making’, IUCN Global Gender Office and Global
Gender and Climate Alliance, 2012.

15. International Energy Agency (IEA), ‘World Energy Outlook Special Report:
Energy and Climate Change’ (Paris: IEA, 2015).
16. Global Greengrants Fund (GGF) and International Network of Women and
the Alliance of Funds (INWF), ‘Climate justice and women’s rights: A guideto supporting grassroots women’s action’, 2015; Aguilar, L., Granat, M. andOwren, C., Roots for the future: The landscape and way forward on gender andclimate change (Washington, D.C.: International Union for Conservationof Nature and Global Gender and Climate Alliance, 2015); United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP), Human Development Report 2014.

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30. Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), ‘Exposing
Gender Gaps in Financing Climate Change Mitigation – And Proposing
Solutions’, 2013, cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Gender-Gaps-inFinancing.pdf. The table is a list of lessons learned based on recent analysisof three projects: the Nepal Biogas Support Program (Nepal); the Bogotá,
Colombia TransMilenio Rapid Bus Transit System (Colombia); and theHousehold Energy and Universal Rural Access project (Mali).
31. Ibid.

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Disclaimer
The views expressed in this publication are thoseof the author(s) and do not necessarily represent
those of the United Nations, including the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP),or their Member States.
© 2016 United Nations Development Programme
All rights reserved© UNDP

AuthorSenay Habtezion
Contributors
Verania Chao, Kalyan Keo, Allison Towle,
Yolanda Villar.

United Nations Development Programme
304 East 45th Street, New York, NY 10017, USA
www.undp.org/gender