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Gender and Climate Change Finance

Stacy Alboher

Presentation to the Multi-Party Women’s Caucus Cape Town, South Africa

19 October 2011

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What is climate finance?

Financial flows from industrialized countries to developing countries to enable them to adhere to their commitments under the ConventionIncludes both public and private sources of funding and should be “new and additional”Finance mechanisms include bilateral instruments, international financing institutions and capital markets, loans, grants, taxes, fees, and global and regional partnerships

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United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

(UNFCCC)Article 3 (Principles): “The Parties should protect the climate system for the

benefit of present and future generations…on the basis of equity and in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities…Accordingly, the developed country Parties should take the lead in combating climate change…”(Art. 3.1)

Article 4 (Commitments): The developed country Parties…“shall provide new and

additional financial resources to meet the agreed full costs incurred by developing country Parties in complying with their obligations under [the Convention]. The implementation of these commitments shall take into account the need for adequacy and predictability in the flow of funds. (Art. 4.3)

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The developed country Parties shall…assist the developing country Parties that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change in meeting costs of adaptation to those adverse effects (Art.4.4 )

The extent to which developing country Parties will effectively implement their commitments under the Convention will depend on the effective implementation by developed country Parties of their commitments under the Convention related to financial resources and transfer of technology and will take fully into account that economic and social development and poverty eradication are the first and overriding priorities of the developing country Parties. (Art.4.7 )

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Cost estimates to address climate

change Mitigation:Additional investment of close to $10.5 trillion ($510 billion

per year over the next 20 years) over a business-as-usual fossil fuel scenario is needed globally in the energy sector for the period 2010-2030 to ensure a 50 percent chance of maintaining GHG concentration to less than 450 ppm CO2e (IEA, 2009).

Adaptation $20-100 billion per year in 2030 (World Bank, WDR 2010)$67 billion per year by 2020 (African Group, 2009)$28-59 billion per year by 2030 (UNFCCC, 2008)

Agriculture: $2.5 billion per year between 2010 -2050 (WB)

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International Climate Financing Commitments

Copenhagen Accord and Cancun Agreements $30 billion by 2012 (fast-start

finance)$100 billion per year by 2020

Official development assistance: $120 billion in 2009

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Overview of climate finance architecture

Source: Adapted by Yannick Glemarec from Atteridge and others (2009)

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Cancun Agreements recognize “that…gender equality and the

effective participation of women and indigenous peoples

are important for effective action on all aspects of climate

change”

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Gender and Climate Finance: Current Issues

No specific mandate for mainstreaming gender in climate finance–though many mandates through international and national laws, etc. (i.e. CEDAW, domestic gender equality policies, etc.)

Inconsistent incorporation of gender perspective in baseline studies, program planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation

Low levels of expertise on gender and climate change finance, gender budgeting, etc.

Low recognition of the importance of women as stakeholders and change agents (often focused on vulnerability)

Predominance of male-biased decision-making in traditional financial flows and decision-making and finance mechanisms’ governance bodies

Coordination challenges at the national level

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Multilateral climate finance mechanisms

Source: Climatefundsupdate.org (HBF and ODI)

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Climate finance mechanisms

Global Environment Facility Least Developed Countries FundSpecial Climate Change FundAdaptation FundClimate Investment FundsClean Development MechanismGreen Climate Fund

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Progress with gender issues

GEF: new gender mainstreaming policy Least Developed Countries Fund and

Special Climate Change FundUpdated Results-Based Management

framework (2010)Revised Programming Strategy (2010)

Adaptation Fund – Gender references in its operational policies and guidelines (2011)

Climate Investment Funds – Recognition of gender as a critical issue

Green Climate Fund

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South African examples CDM: leading in Africa with 20 registered

CDM projects

Climate Investment Funds: South African investment plan: $500 million,

expected to mobilize an additional $1 billion from bilateral and multilateral financiers, plus private sector financing

Endorsed in October 2009Focuses on grid-connected solar thermal power,

utility-scale wind power development, solar water heaters, and energy efficiency, particularly in the commercial and industrial sectors.

Adaptation Fund: recently accredited the South African National Institute for Biodiversity as the 5th NIE worldwide

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Key messages Properly structured, climate change

finance has the potential to achieve climate change goals while also promoting poverty reduction and MDG achievement – including the promotion of gender equality

Equal access to financial mechanism is both necessary and important for women’s empowerment and for sustainable climate change actions in the long run.

Climate change financing must seek to ensure benefits to women and men in the formal, informal and household sectors of the economy.

Climate change financing must include a focus not only on industry, but also on transforming and upgrading the livelihoods of women and men in order to promote the necessary behavioural, institutional and policy changes that are important for securing climate change objectives.

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Recommendations & Next Steps

Ensuring that climate finance addresses the needs and perspectives of both women and men

Establish a national climate change coordination mechanism which can coordinate financing at the national level

Require that gender analysis tools are incorporated into all phases of programme design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation

Include gender policies and guidelines and gender action plans

Establish gender-based criteria in fund allocation, project selection, and other aspects of decision-making

Ensure women and gender experts’ effective and balanced participation in planning and decision-making

Ensure that monitoring and evaluations processes include collecting/reporting with sex-disaggregated data and gender indicators

Promote options for accessing resources that recognize differing capacity levels

Ensure that private sector financing adheres to environmental and social safeguards

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Promoting access for women and marginalized groups

Include resources for capacity building, particularly for women and community-based organizations

Provide earmarked support for women to start and scale up “green” entrepreneurial activities

Direct government subsidies and other fiscal measures towards small-scale and women-run projects that may not otherwise be able to access financing

Create special application procedures for gender-sensitive adaptation and mitigation projects and for financing women’s groups, women-owned entities and projects

Promote women’s access to credit by incorporating gender-sensitive policies and guidelines into financing mechanisms’ management structure and into projects’ design, implementation, evaluation and monitoring

Grant commercial entities targeted tax write-offs or subsidies to support gender-sensitive adaptation and mitigation projects.