Promoting inclusive climate and development outcomes: PIDG joins the 2X Challenge
Celia Carbajosa
Senior Impact Advisor, PIDG
As leaders from across the world gather during London Climate Action Week to discuss how capital can accelerate climate and development outcomes, there is growing recognition that the question is not simply how much we invest in infrastructure, but how.
With this context in mind, PIDG is pleased to announce that we are joining the 2X Challenge, reinforcing our commitment to integrate a gender lens across our investments, helping to ensure that PIDG-supported infrastructure delivers more inclusive and sustainable outcomes for all.
Infrastructure has traditionally been viewed as being “gender-blind”: A road is a road, they said. How can flicking a light switch at home bring about unequal gender outcomes? Similarly, for water – you turn the tap on, and everyone benefits, right? Yet evidence over nearly two decades has demonstrated that the way infrastructure assets and services are designed can impact women and men differently.1 When infrastructure investments fail to involve half of the world’s population, existing inequalities can become entrenched for decades due to the long lifespan of infrastructure assets and the high cost, and challenges of retrofitting.
Women experience infrastructure gaps differently because of how they engage with economies and communities. Globally, women are more likely to undertake unpaid care responsibilities, face mobility constraints, and encounter barriers to accessing finance, employment, and services.2 Where essential infrastructure is lacking, the evidence shows that women and girls are predominantly responsible for water collection and fuel collection often falls disproportionately to women in places where electricity is unreliable or unaffordable.3
“Women and girls are often disproportionately affected by climate change impacts and remain underrepresented in climate and natural resource decision-making.”
Women also make up a substantial share of the agricultural workforce and play key roles as users and stewards of land, forests, water, and biodiversity.4 These realities demonstrate how transport routes, energy access, digital connectivity, and water systems shape not only economic productivity, but also who participates in and benefits from growth. They also demonstrate the potential role that women can play in coordinating more inclusive and sustainable infrastructure ecosystems.
At the same time, women and girls are often disproportionately affected by climate change impacts and remain underrepresented in climate and natural resource decision-making. 5 As such, the importance of considering both gender and climate in infrastructure investing has become increasingly recognised across the development finance sector. At PIDG, this trend is also being observed, with 22 out of 33 financial closes achieved in 2025 qualifying as both climate finance and contributing towards gender equality outcomes, as assessed through PIDG’s criteria.6
Applying a gender lens in infrastructure investing means formally recognising these realities and intentionally designing investments that help to remove these barriers. Development finance institutions increasingly recognise that this is not a “nice-to-have”, but an important contributor to project revenues, customer uptake, market growth, and the long-term resilience of services and investments,7 Inclusive workplace practices can also broaden talent pipelines and improve retention, while better data on end-users and communities can reduce project risks and deliver greater project sustainability.
“PIDG has been actively involved in the gender lens investing space since 2020, including as a
member of the 2X Global community since 2022.”
This approach has been the principle and aim of the 2X Challenge since its launch in 2018. Since then, the initiative has mobilised over USD34 billion in investments supporting women’s empowerment and the 2X Criteria have evolved into a widely recognised global standard for gender finance.8 Today, the 2X Challenge is open to both public and private investors.
PIDG has been actively involved in the gender lens investing space since 2020, including as a member of the 2X Global community since 2022. Since then PIDG has:
Helped to shape guidance on applying the 2X Criteria to infrastructure, including updates to the 2X Criteria Reference Guide, which now includes important new guidelines on how complex investment structures in infrastructure can be aligned with the 2X Criteria. The resulting guidance reflects a shared level of ambition consistent with PIDG’s Gender Lens Investing Policy.
Supported the 2X Global Summit, hosting a session on women driving resilience in the renewable energy sector
In joining the 2X Challenge, PIDG will be able to track the volume of projects formally qualified as contributing to gender equality outcomes. It will also provide an opportunity to collaborate more deeply with peers across the 2X Global network, including those focused on driving climate-resilient outcomes. Alongside our disclosures around PIDG’s climate and nature impact, our first gender disclosures can be found in our latest Sustainability and Impact Report.
References
UN-Water, “Water and Gender,” 2024, https://www.unwater.org/water-facts/water-and-gender
UN Women, “Explainer: How Gender Inequality and Climate Change are Interconnected,” 2024, https://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/explainer/2022/02/explainer-how-gender-inequality-and-climate-change-are-interconnected.
UNICEF and WHO, “Women and Girls Bear Brunt of Water and Sanitation Crisis,” 5 July 2023, https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/women-and-girls-bear-brunt-water-and-sanitation-crisis-new-unicef-who-report.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), “The Status of Women in Agrifood Systems,” 2023, https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/cc5343en.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), “Dimensions and Examples of the Gender-Differentiated Impacts of Climate Change,” accessed 2026, https://unfccc.int/gender.
These are largely based on the 2X Criteria.
CDC Group and IFC, “Creating Markets Through Gender-Smart Investing,” 2021, https://www.ifc.org/en/insights-reports/2021/gender-smart-investing-guide.
2X Global, “About the 2X Challenge,” accessed 2026, https://www.2xglobal.org/2x-challenge.