Investors call for ‘urgent action’ at COP27 climate talks to enshrine gender equality into climate finance

Some of the world’s leading investment funds, foundations and financial institutions have united behind calls for greater gender equality in climate finance commitments across the financial system.

In a letter published ahead of the UN COP27 summit, which starts this weekend in Sharm el Sheikh, the 15 signatories warn that “far too little progress” has been made to increase the participation of women in climate action and finance.

Among those to sign the letter, which argues the climate crisis cannot be solved without involving women, are Aviva, Generation Investment Management, the David Rockefeller Fund, the European Investment Bank and Legal and General Investment Management (LGIM).

“Ahead of the COP27 climate talks, we are calling for urgent action to enshrine gender equality into the design, delivery and accessibility of climate finance,” said Suzanne Biegel, co-founder of GenderSmart, which coordinated the letter together with the Women in Finance Climate Action Group and the 2X Collaborative.

“The calibre of organisations joining this call to action demonstrates a growing global recognition that gender is a material consideration whether you are looking at women as investors, entrepreneurs, leaders, innovators, customers or suppliers. And we need women’s leadership at every level of the climate finance and business value chains.”

Women are both disproportionately affected by climate change and under-utilized agents of change. Meanwhile companies with more gender-diverse boards are reported to be more advanced in their disclosure and decision-making on climate action. 

The letter, which also includes signatories such as Wallace Global Fund, the 30% Club, Hesta, Private Infrastructure Development Group, and Oliver Wyman, made four calls to action of public and private sector financial decision makers:

• Improve women’s inclusion within the financial system and ability to access climate finance

• Integrate gender into public and private climate policy frameworks

• Develop gender metrics and integrate them into climate finance reporting

• Improve gender-balanced representation in decision making roles in climate finance and climate-smart businesses.

“The COP27 climate talks and the upcoming COP15 biodiversity talks are crucial moments that should enable the direction of trillions of dollars of capital towards tackling shared global threats.” said Amanda Blanc, Group CEO of Aviva.

“Governments, multilateral institutions and private sector organisations all need to consider how this private capital can better incorporate gender concerns in order to ensure that these trillions of dollars needed to meet our climate goals will flow in an equitable way. Mobilising climate finance in a way that actively works to address gender inequality will be essential to transform economies and societies to be more equal and resilient in the future.”