When It Comes to Women, COP28 ‘Fell Short’

Historically underrepresented in policymaking positions and discussions, women were vocal at COP28, which concluded on Tuesday, if only because the conference in Dubai scheduled events like a “Gender Day” and created tools like what it calls an “Impact and Empowerment Lab.” But vocal doesn’t mean that significant progress was made on gender justice.

There was a lot of “calling for” this and that, with little in the way of financial or legal commitments for women suffering in the climate crisis. Even the “calling for” part was less than robust.

Just 68 of nearly 200 countries in attendance at the conference endorsed the Gender-Responsive Just Transitions & Climate Action Partnership, which includes a series of commitments on finance, data, and equal opportunities for women and Indigenous people. “Just transition,” which was called for in the Paris Agreement, is defined as a set of social and economic policies that “ensure both the process and outcomes of transitioning from fossil fuels to clean energy sources are fair and equitable for all,” according to Climateworks Center, an Australia-based nonprofit.

“To deliver a just transition, we must reform the architecture of the global financial system and ensure finance flows to the regions and the people who need it the most,” said Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, the UN climate change high-level champion. “But we must also invest in women’s economic empowerment to ensure no one is left behind.”

There are three goals of the partnership: to improve the quality of data in order to support decision-making in transition planning, to create more effective financial paths to regions most impacted by climate change, and to ensure access to education, skills, and capacity building to support individual engagement in transitions.

Research by the International Labor Organization has found that, by 2030, more than 2 percent of total working hours worldwide may be lost every year because of climate change, with heat causing work slowdowns or simply adding days that are too hot to work. The organization says that 1.2 billion jobs around the world “rely directly on a healthy and stable environment.”

Women are going to be — and already are — the hardest hit group, with their work mainly dependent on climate-affected resources like the food and water involved in domestic work or farming. Also, women are make up the largest percentage of people who live in poverty, which is only exacerbated by a warming planet.

“COP28 fell short in achieving significant progress on gender-just climate action,” said Rosa van Driel, the advocacy adviser for CARE Netherlands. “With only 15 women among 133 world leaders present, and almost twice as many men in country negotiating teams compared to women, it is no surprise that gender-just language was removed or watered down.”

Overall, COP28 lacked the financial commitments to fund countries deeply affected by climate change, which means that the world’s most vulnerable people, including women, children, and Indigenous people, are no closer to getting the help they need to survive the ever-worsening climate crisis.

“No one can be blind to the fact that time is running out and we will have only so many chances to take action on preventing and ensuring the most climate-vulnerable can cope with climate change,” David Nicholson, the chief climate officer at Mercy Corps, said in a statement on Wednesday. “The world expected a giant leap forward in ambition and urgency. COP28 disappointed.”