Gender was a key theme today at COP26. Events addressed not only the ways in which women, girls and marginalised people are disproportionately impacted by climate change, but also the importance of their leadership and participation in driving solutions. Speakers today included Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, and Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
Gender-related commitments announced today by country include the following:
- Canada is to ensure that 80% of its $5.3 billion climate investments over the next five years target gender equality outcomes.
- Germany announced a new Gender Strategy under its International Climate Initiative (IKI) which will promote gender-transformative approaches in international climate and biodiversity cooperation.
- The UK is setting out how £165 million in funding will address the dual challenges of gender inequality and climate change.
- The USA is committing new funding for gender-responsive climate programming.
Commitments specific to finance included:
- A Call to Action from The Rallying Cry, urging the finance community to further invest in the women business leaders and enterprises at the heart of the transformation the world needs.
- A new toolkit from the 2X Collaborative (2XC) to support the finance community to make climate finance investments which close gender gaps across different sectors.
- The launch of Gender Equity Diversity Investments, a $100-150 million venture capital firm. GEDI currently has a 200 person network of senior figures and experts, and aims to progress investments in line with several of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Other events in public sessions showcased how science and innovation can deliver climate solutions to meet, and accelerate, increased ambition, and technologies that can contribute to the goal of limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5°C will be demonstrated. Annoucements today include that:
- The European Commission announced that it would pledge of €100 million in finance for the Adaptation Fund. Read more on this story.
- 47 countries have committed to building health systems which are able to withstand the impacts of climate change and which are low carbon and sustainable.
- These include 42 countries, representing over a third of global health care emissions, which have committed to develop a sustainable, low-carbon health system.
- 12 of these 42 countries have set a deadline of 2050 or earlier, by which their health system will reach net zero.
Independent research group Climate Action Tracker warned in a report published today that global temperatures are on track to rise by 2.4 degrees by the end of the century, well above the 1.5 degree Celsius target for global warming, set out in the 2015 Paris Agreement. Climate Action Tracker described the targets for 2030 as “totally inadequate” and that there has been “insufficient momentum from leaders and governments to increase 2030 climate targets ahead of, and at, Glasgow.
Ireland has also been ranked as “low performing” in addressing the climate crisis by the 2021 Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI). Read more on that index in this article by the Institute's Public Policy team.
Read more on these updates.
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