Advancing gender equality in the post-2020 climate regime

Research and evidence show that women and men are vulnerable to climate change to varying degrees, and that they experience and respond to it in different ways. Policies and actions that overlook the gendered impacts of and responses to climate change yield inequitable outcomes and exacerbate existing gender inequalities. Actions that are gender-sensitive and gender-responsive — and therefore designed to yield benefits for the whole population — are not only fairer but also more effective. Yet the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has only recently turned its attention to gender equality. The focus, initially, was on enhancing women’s participation in negotiations but gender issues are now beginning to influence decision-making in important thematic areas, with particular progress being made in adaptation, capacity building and finance. As the Parties to the Convention enter the final, critical stage of negotiations for a new, universal and legally binding agreement, they must build on these foundations so that strong provisions for gender equality take their place as an integral part of future global climate policy.

Policy pointers:

a commitment to gender equality in the new agreement on climate change to be adopted in Paris in December this year is essential to ensure effective and inclusive climate policy and action post 2020
decisions already adopted under the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol represent early progress in this direction and should help governments to advance gender equality in the provisions of the Paris agreement
parties to the Convention must do more than focus on increasing women’s participation in decision-making, and commit to gender equality as a guiding principle of post-2020 climate policy and action
they should also address gender considerations in provisions that crystallise decisions in all the thematic areas of the global climate response: mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage, finance, technology development and transfer, capacity

building and transparency of action and support