Gender Equality In Climate Change Activities Assessing The Credibility Of Gender Responsive Climate Financing

Climate change affects everyone, independent of race, nationality or gender status. Nevertheless, there are countries and people that are more affected: In many ways, women exceptionally suffer from climate change’s effects. But how are climate change and women’s rights connected with each other? To what extent do G7 nations provide developing countries with funds for climate change activities? How do they promote gender equality? Do the G7 nations correctly report their aid activities? This book shows the unsatisfying quality of the nations’ self-reporting and explains the possible reasons for as well as the consequences of the deviations. It detects to what extent gender equality is promoted in climate change projects and recommends improvements concerning women’s rights. Keywords: - Feminism; - Global Warming; - Emissions; - Adaptation; - Sustainable Development Goals; - Inequality

Actively engaging women in climate mitigation activities can yield multiple benefits, including improved jobs, better livelihoods, and more equitable revenue flows. Efforts are moving forward to design climate funding mechanisms to help capture these benefits, but policy makers and other stakeholders need more guidance on designing gender-responsive climate policies and funding proposals. The guidelines in this publication fill this void. It is hoped that these guidelines would equip policy makers with pragmatic advice on how to mainstream gender into climate change mitigation actions and funding proposals. This publication reflects on applications for the guidelines as well as relationships between climate planning and funding proposal.

Key messages Financial mechanisms and climate change-related interventions should prioritize activities that are locally adapted and accessible for both genders, considering the different roles and constraints of each gender. Ministries responsible for climate action require a specifically tagged budget to enable interventions to be gender-responsive. The gender-specific indicators provided in this study can support ministries responsible for delivering climate action to include gender within the Indonesian KRISNA (‘Collaborative Planning and Budget Performance Information’) budget system. On-the-ground interventions need to acknowledge the necessity of integrating women and the poor as vital allies in achieving climate change adaptation and mitigation objectives – from the design phase through all stages of implementation – and translate this into pro-poor and gender-responsive strategic planning and operational guidance. Building the institutional capacities of stakeholders is required at all levels so that plans and actions can be synergized, and different finance sources can be combined to ensure positive gender and pro poor outcomes and the long-term sustainability of finance mechanisms. Gender-responsive budgeting needs to include gender variables in monitoring at all levels: this includes indicators for immediate and intermediate results that act as stepping stones in changing longer-term gender relations, therefore contributing to gender transformational change. Indicators need to go beyond the usual economic assessments, to look at the social factors related to decisionmaking processes, agenda setting, the representation of women in institutions, their access to assets and markets, and capacity building.

Key points Despite a clear mandate for addressing gender equality in climate policy and action, gender considerations tend to be sidelined or watered down at national/program levels. The Green Climate Fund is well placed to help bridge this gap and contribute toward a global vision to address gender equality and women's empowerment in climate policy and action.For this, the updated gender policy of the Green Climate Fund must be guided by a 'gender-responsive' approach, and hence move beyond the 'gender-sensitive' approach of the current gender policy.The objectives of the new gender policy should be two-fold: (i) advance gender equality and women's empowerment through climate change mitigation and/or adaptation actions; (ii) minimize gender-related risks and safeguard women's rights in all climate change actions.The Gender Policy and Action Plan need to be aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals. This will allow for clearer sets of targets and progress indicators for assessing the Fund's contribution toward enhancing gender equality and women's empowerment (SDG5).

This publication aims to provide trainers, practitioners, and policy makers of environment and gender mainstreaming agencies an understanding of key concepts and approaches to gender-responsive mitigation measures, strategies, and policies. It covers key concepts on gender and climate change and concludes with step-by-step guidelines for policy and decision makers to mainstream gender into climate policies and projects, with practical tools and exercises to support training on gender and climate change. This manual is based on a series of workshops held in Cambodia, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, and Viet Nam and models the Asian Development Bank's operational approach of integrated country-driven climate responses in enabling gender-responsive climate action. It accommodates readers and training participants who are not familiar with climate change issues or gender concepts, and case studies herein can be adjusted to the country context.

This book discusses the state of global climate change policy and the financing of climate resilient public infrastructure. It explains the sources of tensions and conflict between developing and developed countries with regard to global climate protection policies, and highlights the biases and asymmetries that may work against gender equality, women’s empowerment and poverty eradication. Gender and Climate Change Financing: Coming Out of the Margin provides an overview of the scientific, economic and political dynamics underlying global climate protection. It explores the controversial issues that have stalled global climate negotiations and offers a clear explanation of the link between adaptation and mitigation strategies and gender issue. It also maps the full range of public, private and market-based climate finance instruments and funds. This book will be a useful tool for those engaged with climate change, poverty eradication, gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Key messages Climate finance mechanisms (CFMs) can either help or hinder women and the poor from adapting to and mitigating climate change. CFMs in Indonesia are attentive to poverty alleviation, but gender equality has not received commensurate attention. Systems for monitoring, evaluating and learning from gender and poverty outcomes are weak or nonexistent. Few feedback mechanisms channels. Indonesia’s national level policies support gender equality, but people implementing them in CFMs do not have a common understanding of what it is and why it matters. Performance-based budgeting (PBB) can help advance gender equality and poverty reduction if government ministries and agencies agree on the importance of gender equality, acknowledge the vital role of women and the poor, and learn from experiences. We recommend improvements in the way CFMs are conceptualized and designed, and funds are allocated and used. Monitoring, evaluation and learning systems need to focus on impact, give voice for women and the poor, and enable improvements with time.