Women's voices are crucial to the climate debate, say experts at Cop 29

Inclusive leadership in talks can lead to more equitable and resilient agreements in the long term, panel audience hears

As heads of state gathered in Baku for the World Leaders Climate Action Summit, only a handful of the 78 attendees were women, prompting the question: “Where are all the women?”. Photo: Reuters

Women's voices need to be heard at the climate negotiating table, experts have told The National, as the role of women and small and medium enterprises was highlighted at Cop29.

As heads of state gathered in Baku for the World Leaders Climate Action Summit, only a handful of the 78 attendees were women, prompting the question: “Where are all the women?”

That question had reverberated across climate forums at the start of the year when Azerbaijan initially announced an all-male Cop29 organising committee. This was later updated to include 12 female leaders.

“While women are on the front lines of climate crises around the world, they're still being sidelined at decision-making tables,” said feminist activist Yasmina Benslimane, who is the founder and president of Politics4Her.

Why does gender representation matter?

According to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), women commonly face higher risks and greater burdens from the impacts of climate change in situations of poverty, and the majority of the world’s poor are women.

Jessica Robinson, climate and gender expert and partner at Solve Strategies, told The National that there is an urgent need for equal representation in negotiations.

“Many female climate leaders are bringing exactly the kind of leadership qualities that are critical to our collective success. At the same time, we have overwhelming evidence that inclusive leadership in climate discussions ensures not only gender justice but leads to more equitable and resilient agreements in the long term. This benefits everyone.”

Nigar Arpadarai, the UN climate change high-level champion for Cop29, has been campaigning for women and small and medium-sized enterprises at the climate summit. She believes that education plays a critical role in empowering women globally and combating climate change. “We want to see more women in leadership roles, we want to see more women in private sector, we want to see more women being side by side with men, and having equal opportunities.”

It is estimated that close to 40 per cent of small and medium sized enterprises globally are owned by women, and building on this will help move the inequality needle.

Speaking at a panel organised by International Finance Corporation (IFC) and moderated by The National on the sidelines of Cop29, Ms Arpadarai said, “I think that owning an SME or working for an SME is the way for women to bypass glass ceiling in many cases, in many countries of the world.”

To facilitate growth in this area, she launched the climate-proofing SMEs campaign, “I can announce that at this moment we have 35 collaborators and they are reaching 65 million SMEs globally. Our main goal here is to do capacity building for SMEs and show them how to access finance – and show them opportunities that comes with green transition.”

Speaking at the event, IFC managing director Makhtar Diop said one of the best ways to support women is to provide them with the assets they need to play a bigger role in productive sectors.

Mr Diop called on the financial community to provide equity to women to enable them to open their own businesses. “I think one of the best ways to support women is to help them to have the asset they need to play a bigger role in the productive sector when you have more value add and therefore more income.”

Rose Goslinga, co-founder and chief executive of Pula, a company that uses technology to scale climate insurance to smallholder farmers in emerging markets, said that of the five million farmers insured through the platform last year, 40 per cent were women. “This hasn’t always been the case,” Ms Goslinga said, adding that understanding community gender difference is key.

Further gender talks will be on the agenda at Cop29, with a high-level event on gender and transparency scheduled for November 21.