With the dramatic increase from US$2.5 trillion to a staggering US$4 trillion in the SDGs financing need, mainstreaming gender in smart climate finance is the need of the hour. Although discussions on climate finance have gathered steam in the past few decades, the inclusion of a gender lens in climate conversation is fairly recent. While lacking a fixed definition, gender-smart climate finance seeks to integrate a gender perspective into climate-related financial investments, policies, and programmes. Here, climate initiatives seek to acknowledge the differential impacts of climate change on women and men, leverage women’s unique skills/experiences, promote gender equality and launch a transformational change to empower them in the long run. By considering gender-specific vulnerabilities and enhancing women's resilience, this approach maximises the effectiveness and sustainability of climate action.
While lacking a fixed definition, gender-smart climate finance seeks to integrate a gender perspective into climate-related financial investments, policies, and programmes.
A hotspot of climate-induced disasters and also growing gender disparities, the Indo-Pacific is marred by multiple challenges. As per the International Labour Organisation (ILO), women spend four times more hours on unpaid care work than men—which are highest globally—out of which only 43.6 percent of them are employed compared to 73.4 percent of men in this region. These gender disparities curtail women's involvement in climate finance and subsequently hinder their efforts to tackle climate change. These are also underscored by the region exhibiting limited representation of women in decision-making in environmental ministries, with only 7 percent of such ministries led by female ministers, compared to the global average of 12 percent.
