The G20 and Climate Change: A Gender Perspective
Photo: Ricardo Stuckert/PR - 18.11.2024 - 2ª Sessão da Reunião de Líderes do G20: Reforma das Instituições de Governança Global
By Julia Driemeier Vieira Rosa, Researcher at EmpoderaClima
This article discusses how the G20 has addressed the climate crisis in its agenda, through a gendered perspective. It includes information on what steps have been taken by the Group of Twenty countries (known as the G20) so far in recognizing the unequal impacts of climate change on women and girls and what the main obstacles are in guaranteeing effective member engagement on this issue. The article ends by highlighting opportunities for Brazil to advance the incorporation of gender within climate policy during its G20 presidency and at the 2024 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, taking place on November 18 and 19.
What is the G20?
The Group of Twenty (G20) is a forum that unites twenty of the world’s largest economies annually to discuss pressing global issues. The group was established in 1999 following the Asian financial crisis as an opportunity to bring together heads of finance from around the world. After the 2008 global economic crisis, the group expanded to include Heads of State/Government to further foster cooperation on international issues beyond the scope of the global economy and finances, including discussions on trade, climate change, health, and agriculture.
Source: Council on Foreign Relations, 2023
Note: Members through the EU and AU refer to members through the European Union and the African Union, respectively.
Past G20 Summits have been held in countries such as India, Indonesia, Argentina, France and Turkey. The 2024 G20 Summit is being held in Brazil for the first time, in November 2024, in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Brazil took on the presidency of the group in December 2023, and during its mandate, it aims to highlight three main topics of discussion: 1) global poverty, hunger, and inequality; 2) sustainable development; and 3) global governance reform.
How has the intersection between climate change and gender been addressed by the group so far?
Source: G20 Brasil 2024 - 08.10.2024 - 4th Empowerment of Women WG
Discussions on gender equality have been recurring in past G20 Summits. The G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration of 2023 made strides in diversifying the group’s focus areas in advancing gender equality in its member countries, including the encouragement of female participation in the economy and development, the need to close the gender gap in the labor force and wages, the improvement of women and girls’ access to education and formal finance, and to address gender-based violence and stereotypes.
However, the novelty in the G20 New Delhi Declaration relates to the acknowledgment of the disproportionate effects of climate change on women and girls and the importance of applying a gendered approach to the core of climate action. The group therefore states in the 66th article of the declaration that they will:
Support and increase women’s participation, partnership, decision-making, and leadership in climate change mitigation and adaptation, and disaster risk reduction strategies and policy frameworks on environmental issues.
Support gender-responsive and environment-resilient solutions, including water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) solutions, to build resilience to the impact of climate change and environmental degradation.
Differently than in the UN System and other multilateral institutions, the goals set by the G20 for its members count with a higher degree of flexibility and informality. As a consequence, measuring countries’ performance in these goals is not done institutionally. Rather, this process relies on the analysis made by civil society groups, such as the G20 Annual Scorecard by Clarivate. Therefore, to assess G20's performance in meeting their goals of promoting a gendered approach to climate action it is necessary to look at their progress in integrating gender into their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
According to the WOCAN report titled “Gender Integration in Climate Policy: A G20 Analysis”, only 20% of G20 members have included gender in their climate policy and, if gender is mentioned at all, fail to elaborate tangible and financially sound ways to meet their targets.
Source: G20 Brasil 2024 - 08.10.2024 - 4th Empowerment of Women WG
How can the 2024 G20 Rio de Janeiro Summit advance in integrating gender into climate policy?
Ahead of the 2024 Summit, Brazilian officials have already made it clear that discussions on centralizing gender equality into climate action will be on the event’s agenda. On the 13th and 14th of May 2024, the G20’s Women’s Empowerment Working Group met in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, to discuss how to accelerate the integration of gender into climate policy, proposing:
Improving measuring and mapping mechanisms on climate change and gender;
Highlighting the importance of traditional knowledge from women’s communities and female-led leadership in climate action;
Showcasing successful experiences of women and girls’ participation in climate forums and decision-making spaces;
Enhancing public and private funding mechanisms for gender-responsive and female-led climate initiatives.
The G20 Rio de Janeiro Summit provides an opportunity for Brazil to present climate leadership and its commitment to promoting sustainable development. Climate change will be a main topic on the event’s agenda, along with addressing poverty, socioeconomic inequality, and global governance reform, especially regarding international finance and security.
Therefore, advancing climate action with a gendered core will require demanding that G20 member countries not only include gender in their NDCs but outline a concrete plan for meeting their objectives. With its G20 presidency, Brazil has the rare opportunity to highlight this necessity and urge that members take on substantial responsibilities in integrating gender and climate policy.
Has this been achieved?
On one hand, the final G20 Rio de Janeiro Leaders’ Declaration strongly emphasizes the need to ensure gender equality and combat all forms of gender discrimination and violence against women. In Article 32, the Declaration highlights the need for equal gender participation in development and economic growth while recognizing the existing barriers that women and girls face in both the private and public spheres. Therefore, the G20 leaders urge that all forms of gender-based discrimination need to be tackled to guarantee full female social, political, and economic empowerment in line with the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the Brisbane Goal. The Declaration also states that women and girls face unequal access to technology, which must be overcome in order to reduce the gendered digital divide. Finally, the G20 representatives state their support for increasing female participation in the UN Secretariat, including in the role of Secretary-General.
On the other hand, the G20 Declaration fails to advance the targets put forth by the G20’s Women’s Empowerment Working Group in May 2024 and lacks encouragement for further integration of gender empowerment in member-states’ NDCs. Although several topics on economic and social justice that directly relate to the unequal impacts of climate change on vulnerable communities and peoples were discussed by G20 leaders and included in the Declaration, no specific mention of “climate justice” is included in the final text. Additionally, the only consideration of gendered-based inequalities as a result of the climate crisis is included in Article 26:
26. We acknowledge that access to safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene is a prerequisite to health and nutrition and is critical to sustainable development outcomes. In this regard, mobilizing resources to build sustainable and resilient water and sanitation systems is essential for a healthier and more equitable future for all. We, therefore, support the promotion of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) systems that are inclusive, integrated, sustainable, and gender-responsive to build resilience to the impacts of biodiversity loss, climate change, environmental degradation, water-borne diseases, disasters, and pollution. To this end, we welcome the Call to Action on Strengthening Drinking Water and Sanitation and Hygiene Services.
The 2024 G20 Summit is being held at the same time as the 29th UN Conference of Parties (COP) on Climate Change in Baku, Azerbaijan. Similarly to the COP, G20 leaders and representatives have strived to advance commitments for global climate finance. Therefore, the G20 Declaration highlights the need to increase international financial flows for climate mitigation and adaptation in trillions of dollars as an attempt to guarantee a more ambitious climate finance goal in Baku by the end of the conference on the 22nd of November 2024. However, this cannot be done without considering the burden of non-concessional climate finance on developing countries’ mounting public debt, leading to increased social and gender inequality.
