This report serves as a snapshot of the activity of gender lens funds in private markets. It is aimed primarily at fund managers, Limited Partners, ecosystem builders, and researchers who are actively engaged in the field of gender lens investing or who are interested in better understanding the field. While the report captures a broad set of information about 175 gender lens funds, representing the work of 126 fund managers from around the globe, it is important to acknowledge that an even broader context exists. There are segments within the gender finance ecosystem that are not captured because the investors did not report data nor publicise their gender-focused initiatives. Additionally, this report focuses on activity in private markets only. There are also gender lens equity and debt funds, gender bonds, and other securities that are trading in public markets.

This report explores the connection between gender and climate finance, focusing on the importance of gender-smart investments in the broader climate finance and policy arena. The analysis presented in this report highlights why a gender lens matters for climate finance and outlines key points to inform discussions and deliberations during seminal policy discussions, covering COP29, other regional climate events, the New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance (NCQG) Technical Expert Discussions (TEDs) on global climate finance goals beyond 2025 and more.

As the finance field increases in maturity, more investors are deepening their approaches and enhancing the rigour of their gender analysis by integrating considerations around gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH).

This brief illustrates how gender-smart investors can integrate considerations around GBVH into their climate and gender finance strategies.

Investments reflect our belief in the future. As investors, we deploy capital to assets and activities that they believe will generate returns over time. We have the power to choose where, how our capital is allocated. What if we can utilise this power to actively shape the future in which our investments happen?

Investing at the nexus of gender and climate finance has been evolving in recent years: from the development of new research and case studies that help make the case for this approach and illustrate its benefits, to the emergence of tools to support investors in adopting an integrated approach. Yet few of these examples and tools have engaged intentionally with the full breadth of intersections between climate action, gender and a broader inclusive and JEDI lens in the investment community. This guide is designed to help investors and investment intermediaries do just that.

This Framework, developed by the Women in Finance Climate Action Group in partnership with Oliver Wyman, 2X Global and the 30% Club, is designed to help financial institutions to embed gender considerations into their climate investment decisions, to both mitigate the disproportionate impact of climate change on women and support women as change makers in the net zero transition. It is designed specifically for private institutional investors given the key role the play in financing the net zero transition. The framework provides practical guidance on target outcomes, key organisation and investment process changes, and metrics for gender-smart climate investing.