SHE Changes Climate Press Release
MORE THAN 400 CLIMATE LEADERS CALL FOR GENDER EQUALITY IN LEADERSHIP FOR COP26
In an open letter to the British Government, more than 400 women climate leaders call for greater accountability and transparency on gender equality in the COP26 leadership team, in a campaign launched today.
Mary Robinson, Laurence Tubiana, Emma Thompson and Ellie Goulding are among the climate leaders to have signed a letter, which demands stronger female representation in what is currently a male dominated COP26 leadership team, with less than 25% women in influencing leadership positions.
Next November, the UK will bring together heads of state, climate experts and campaigners from across the globe to agree on coordinated action to tackle climate change at COP26 in Glasgow. At present the senior leadership team responsible for setting the agenda is predominantly male, compromising the success in a critical year for climate action.
The campaign, organised by SHEChangesClimate, asks that COP26 Leadership team embraces women’s equal participation and supports gender equality to drive more positive outcomes. The letter points to evidence that including women in COP26 decision and negotiating roles will give it a greater chance of success and ensure a fairer decision-making process.
· At COP25 last year, the British Government signed up to the Gender Action Plan (GAP), which stresses the importance of women’s inclusion and gender equality in the processes for discussions and decision-making on climate change.
· Research in GAP shows that women and girls are disproportionately affected by climate change, as well as having critical roles in the family and community in climate action.
· In addition, there is a growing body of evidence and widespread recognition that the inclusion of women in leadership teams leads to better, more effective results.
Signatories of the letter include scientists, academics, members of the House of Lords such as Baroness Goudie, Nobel Prize winner Jody Williams, politicians such as Caroline Lucas MP, campaigners like Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, leaders of NGOs such as Jennifer Morgan of Greenpeace and tech leaders such as Kate Brandt from Google.
Malini Mehra, chief executive of parliamentary network, GLOBE International, and an Indian climate campaigner said: “The COP26 Presidency is a test of the UK’s commitment to gender equality. Women are half the population and must be half the top table. This is well understood by the public and expected by the global climate community. Right now the UK is failing the political leadership test and sending the wrong signal. The government must act now to ensure equal representation in COP26 decision-making.”
Katharine K. Wilkinson, D.Phil., Climate Author, Strategist, Teacher , Author: All We Can Save said: "The climate crisis is a leadership crisis. Research shows that women are vital voices and agents of change for this planet, but we're too often missing from the proverbial table. More than a problem of bias, this sets us up for failure. To turn away from the brink and move toward a life-giving future for all, we must have true and equal representation — most especially at COP 26."
Farhana Yamin, Founder Track 0, Climate Lawyer & Former Advisor to H.E. President Hilda Heine, Republic of the Marshall Islands said: “The struggle for climate justice is also the struggle for racial, gender, sexual and economic justice. It is sad that in 2020 women are being excluded from the vital preparations necessary for making next year's UN Climate Summit in Glasgow a success. The gendered impacts of climate change means we must ensure an equal balance between men and women at all levels, especially within the COP26 senior management team. It is difficult to see how the current predominantly male-led COP26 team will ensure that women's voices and needs are heard."
The letter reveals the disappointment and frustration felt by many climate leaders, that the current COP26 leadership team is predominantly male, failing to accommodate gender balance and ignoring the benefits that women’s leadership brings to the climate debate.
Since the story of the all-male COP26 team was reported on by leading Guardian journalist, Fiona Harvey, SHEChangesClimate has united a team of high profile and senior climate leaders ready and willing to join the team and the ambassadors for COP26, working alongside existing members of the leadership team.
The campaign media briefing takes place during the Planetary Emergency Partnership Conference and Strategic Planning Roundtables 9 -10 December 2020, organised by Elise Buckle, President and Director of Climate & Sustainability, Advisor to the UN.
The Climate Ambition Summit on 12 December, hosted by UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Prime Minister Boris Johnson, will mark the fifth anniversary of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, to rally momentum and call for much greater climate action and ambition.
Members of the public are invited to support the campaign on social media using #SHEChangesClimate and to follow the campaign at www.shechangesclimate.org and @sheclimate on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
-Ends-
Notes to Editors
For interviews with women climate leaders and signatories, please contact:
Gabriella.Smith@greenhousepr.co.uk
Rachel.Parkes@greenhousepr.co.uk
In 2020, SHEChangesClimate was founded by Antoinette Vermilye, Bianca Pitt and Elise Buckle, with the aim to bring transparency and accountability to the COP negotiations on Climate Change.
The SHEChangesClimate Campaign believes that gender balance on leadership teams for Climate COPs not only encourages better leadership and governance, but diversity and inclusion further contributes to better all-round negotiation performance, and ultimately increased results for both the participating nations and all their citizens. Diversity and the fostering of inclusive delegations also plays an important role in increasing innovation, attracting talent, and enhancing reputation and standing.
Signatories include: Caroline Nokes MP, Baroness Goudie, Baroness Rosie Boycott, Baroness Martha Lane-Fox, Dame Emma Thompson, Gillian Burke, Lily Cole, Jody Williams, Caroline Lucas MP, Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, Jennifer Morgan, Kate Brandt, Xiye Bastida, Ella Daish, Catherine Howarth, Jude Kelly, Carly McLachlan, Sarah Olney MP, Sumru Ramsey, Fiona Reynolds, Amiera Sawas and Farhana Yamin.
ADDITIONAL QUOTES FROM SIGNATORIES
Sylvia Earle, Founder, Mission Blue, National Geographic Explorer in Residence said: “The challenges we face today in the climate and ecological emergency are unprecedented and, as such, demand a fresh approach. The next ten years will be the most important of the next 10,000. Let’s be sure that viewpoints and perspectives of half the planet are able to contribute to the COP26 leadership team decision making. The outcomes from this COP will be crucial to all of us.”
Dr Mya-Rose Craig AKA Birdgirl said: "Fighting climate change with immediate action is absolutely imperative and COP26 is at the forefront of instigating that action. Yet, the leadership team is mostly male. I call for the UK COP26 President to take urgent steps to rectify this, as we will not succeed in tackling the climate crisis without women’s inclusion. We can and must have a gender-balanced team to be effective and successful"
Bella Lack, Youth Ambassador Born Free Foundation said: “Nature is in our lives and all around us -we just need to look for it. That mindset of looking at nature and for it, is one that I often find from women and girls seeking to protect and nurture. We need to take that protective instinct and apply it to the planet. The COP26 leadership team is negotiating for my future and my children’s. I want women’s perspectives clearly and demonstrably included in these outcomes.”
COPY OF LETTER TO UK PRIME MINISTER BORIS JOHNSON, ALOK SHARMA MP AND COP26 PRESIDENT PETER HILL
The Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, Prime Minister
10 Downing Street
London
SW1A 2AA
Thursday 10 December 2020
Dear Prime Minister,
Copied to:
Rt Hon. Alok Sharma, Secretary of State for BEIS and President of COP26 and Peter Hill, CEO COP26
URGENT ACTION REQUIRED
FOR WOMEN REPRESENTATION IN LEADERSHIP TEAM FOR COP26
We represent a group of powerful women*, including more than 100 recognised climate leaders in the UK, who are deeply concerned about the lack of gender balance in the UK COP26 leadership team - which is currently predominantly male. We ask that this is addressed with urgency to ensure that women are fairly represented.
It is incomprehensible that half the planet is not represented in the senior leadership team where the framing, narrative, issues and content for COP26 will be decided, when it is widely acknowledged that the role of women is critical in tackling the climate and ecological emergency.
The evidence is clear that women and girls are more vulnerable to climate change impacts. Women and girls more often face the brunt of climate related disasters than men. They are the ‘shock absorbers’ of climate change: impacts disproportionately hit their livelihoods and food security, drive up levels of the violence they experience, and hold them back from engaging in education and the green economy.
For their interests to be appropriately considered in climate change policy responses, women need to be involved in strategic planning and decision-making. This has been made very clear, as a priority area, in the enhanced Gender Action Plan, which the UK Government championed at COP25. The UK must lead by example, as the host of COP26 to send a clear signal to parties that the enhanced GAP must be enforced.
For the UK as the host country to neglect to take a stand on strengthening women’s voices in the international climate debate would be a step backwards for climate justice and a failure of responsibility to put together the strongest and best equipped team.
There is overwhelming evidence to suggest that an all-male leadership of the UK-hosted climate talks in 2021 will be not be as respected and effective as a gender balanced team, and that we need the concerns, attitudes, talents and leadership of women represented.
• UNFCCC outlines the need for gender balance in climate diplomacy. Women’s vulnerability to climate change is a longstanding concern in the international negotiations1.
• Evidence shows that a lack of gender balance in key political decisions on climate is also more likely to prevent effective action to tackle the climate emergency. Research on deliberative democracy2 highlights the importance of diversity for tackling climate change: more inclusive and participatory decision-making improves the quality of decision-making, because it reflects and incorporates a wider range of perspectives and expertise.
• Inclusion of women also leads to stronger outcomes on implementation. Evidence shows that involving people in decision-making who will be affected by these decisions influences policy support among the public3.
• Climate change risk perception and concern is higher among women than among men 4; women tend to be concerned about different aspects of climate change from men, and to be more in support of policies and lifestyle changes to tackle climate change. Women and men experience and shape climate change in very different ways, something that is well-understood by the UNFCCC5. The more powerful groups in society are more likely to oppose regulatory policies6 to tackle climate change because they threaten the status quo. Climate change scepticism is overwhelmingly white and male7 .
We want to urge the UK government to reflect on the evidence and understand that not having a diverse COP leadership is likely to undermine their global credibility on climate change and their call to other nations for ambitious and just climate action8 .
The challenges we face today in the climate and ecological emergency are unprecedented and, as such, demand a fresh approach. The brightest minds and most imaginative problem-solvers are required to confront today’s challenges.
When women have played a decisive role in previous UN climate talks in recent times, it has resulted in bold climate action and outcomes, despite significant opposition.
THE ASKS
1. A balanced representation of men and women at the high-level team for COP26. Embrace women’s equal participation and support gender equality (GAP). COP26 approach is transparent and accountable.
2. Show global leadership by ensuring the UK’s updated Nationally Determined Contribution includes a gender analysis and commitment to tackling gender inequality via action on reducing emissions.
3. Ensure climate finance is gender inclusive (developing minimum standards) to increase accessibility to finance for women-led and women’s rights organisations addressing climate change impacts on the front line.
We have more than 400 signatories to this letter, as well as a network of women who are determined to ensure that our voices are heard, from CEOs of the UK’s leading conservation NGOs, to leaders in the city and green finance, to politicians, scientists and policy makers, we ask for an urgent response.
We are standing by and are ready to support. We are a female team of high level players ready to provide their input, and provide transparency and accountability working alongside existing leadership members of the team. We are ready to step up now. We await your reply.
APPENDIX
Fiona Harvey at the Guardian originally broke the story9 in September, announcing that all of the politicians who will host the Cop26 talks for the UK in Glasgow are men. In this article many prominent women leaders commented on the response on the failure to include women in the leadership team for COP26:
Carolyn Fairbairn, the director general of the UK’s CBI employers’ organisation:
“If ever there was a moment for real diversity in our leadership, this is it. So many communities are affected by [the climate crisis]. We need a team of all talents, and that must be diverse in all respects.”
Former president of Ireland Mary Robinson, twice a UN envoy on climate issues, said:
“This diminishes the impact [the UK will have]. Gender divisions in climate are very significant. Having women in leadership is important to ensure these issues are enthusiastically taken up.”
A spokesperson for Nicola Sturgeon, first minister for Scotland said: “Women and girls around the world are on the frontline of the fight for climate justice, and the UK government’s implicit failure to acknowledge that speaks volumes about its own attitudes, although it is perhaps not surprising coming from a government which has made clear its intent to flout diplomatic and legal norms and to break international law.”
Youth activist, Pauline Owiti, Fridays for Future movement in Kenya. “Effective climate action should bring everyone to the table while recognising the value of their knowledge and their potential as agents of change.”
Muna Suleiman, a climate campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “Women and children are 14 times more likely than men to suffer direct impacts of natural disasters and climate breakdown, yet are regularly shut out of the decision-making that’s supposed to change things. The UK needs to resolve this as it hosts the UN climate talks next year, but it’s already treading familiar ground as an old boys’ club where women are left off the top table."
New supporting comments from signatories since include:
Malini Mehra, chief executive of parliamentary network, GLOBE International, and an Indian climate campaigner said: “The COP26 Presidency is a test of the UK’s commitment to gender equality. Women are half the population and must be half the top table. This is well understood by the public and expected by the global climate community. Right now the UK is failing the political leadership test and sending the wrong signal. The government must act now to ensure equal representation in COP26 decision-making.”
Katharine K. Wilkinson, D.Phil., Climate Author, Strategist, Teacher , Author: All We Can Save said: "The climate crisis is a leadership crisis. Research shows that women are vital voices and agents of change for this planet, but we're too often missing from the proverbial table. More than a problem of bias, this sets us up for failure. To turn away from the brink and move toward a life-giving future for all, we must have true and equal representation — most especially at COP 26."
Farhana Yamin, Founder Track 0, Climate Lawyer & Former Advisor to H.E. President Hilda Heine, Republic of the Marshall Islands said: “The struggle for climate justice is also the struggle for racial, gender, sexual and economic justice. It is sad that in 2020 women are being excluded from the vital preparations necessary for making next year's UN Climate Summit in Glasgow a success. The gendered impacts of climate change means we must ensure an equal balance between men and women at all levels, especially within the COP26 senior management team. It is difficult to see how the current predominantly male-led COP26 team will ensure that women's voices and needs are heard."
Sylvia Earle, Founder, Mission Blue, National Geographic Explorer in Residence said: “The challenges we face today in the climate and ecological emergency are unprecedented and, as such, demand a fresh approach. The next ten years will be the most important of the next 10,000. Let’s be sure that viewpoints and perspectives of half the planet are able to contribute to the COP26 leadership team decision making. The outcomes from this COP will be crucial to all of us.”
Dr Mya-Rose Craig, AKA Birdgirl said: "Fighting climate change with immediate action is absolutely imperative and COP26 is at the forefront of instigating that action. Yet, the leadership team is mostly male. I call for the UK COP26 President to take urgent steps to rectify this, as we will not succeed in tackling the climate crisis without women’s inclusion. We can and must have a gender-balanced team to be effective and successful"
Reference to the existing UNFCCC recommendations on climate and gender:
• Takes note of the report on the gender composition of Party delegations and constituted bodies, which highlights the persistent lack of progress in and the urgent need for improving the representation of women in Party delegations and constituted bodies;
• Acknowledging that climate change is a common concern of humankind, Parties should, when taking action to address climate change, respect, promote and consider their respective obligations on gender equality, empowerment of women.
• Acknowledging the continuing need for gender mainstreaming through all relevant targets and goals in activities under the Convention as an important contribution to increasing their effectiveness, fairness and sustainability.
• Recognises with concern that climate change impacts on women and men can often differ owing to historical and current gender inequalities and multidimensional factors and can be more pronounced in developing countries and for local communities and indigenous peoples.
----
1 https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/sbi2019_inf8.pdf
3 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3763/cpol.2009.0673 4https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312067281_Race_class_gender_and_climate_change_communication
5 https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/sbi2019_inf8.pdf
6 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0146167209351435
7 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S095937801100104X
8https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-climate-action-cannot-be-another-victim-of-coronavirus
In an open letter to the British Government, more than 300 women climate leaders call for greater accountability and transparency on gender equality in the COP26 leadership team, in a campaign launched today.
Mary Robinson, Laurence Tubiana, Emma Thompson and Ellie Goulding are among the climate leaders to have signed a letter, which demands stronger female representation in what is currently a male dominated COP26 leadership team, with less than 25% women in influencing leadership positions.
Next November, the UK will bring together heads of state, climate experts and campaigners from across the globe to agree on coordinated action to tackle climate change at COP26 in Glasgow. At present the senior leadership team responsible for setting the agenda is predominantly male, compromising the success in a critical year for climate action.
The campaign, organised by SHEChangesClimate, asks that COP26 Leadership team embraces women’s equal participation and supports gender equality to drive more positive outcomes. The letter points to evidence that including women in COP26 decision and negotiating roles will give it a greater chance of success and ensure a fairer decision-making process.
· At COP25 last year, the British Government signed up to the Gender Action Plan (GAP), which stresses the importance of women’s inclusion and gender equality in the processes for discussions and decision-making on climate change.
· Research in GAP shows that women and girls are disproportionately affected by climate change, as well as having critical roles in the family and community in climate action.
· In addition, there is a growing body of evidence and widespread recognition that the inclusion of women in leadership teams leads to better, more effective results.
Signatories of the letter include scientists, academics, members of the House of Lords such as Baroness Goudie, Nobel Prize winner Jody Williams, politicians such as Caroline Lucas MP, campaigners like Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, leaders of NGOs such as Jennifer Morgan of Greenpeace and tech leaders such as Kate Brandt from Google.
Malini Mehra, chief executive of parliamentary network, GLOBE International, and an Indian climate campaigner said: “The COP26 Presidency is a test of the UK’s commitment to gender equality. Women are half the population and must be half the top table. This is well understood by the public and expected by the global climate community. Right now the UK is failing the political leadership test and sending the wrong signal. The government must act now to ensure equal representation in COP26 decision-making.”
Katharine K. Wilkinson, D.Phil., Climate Author, Strategist, Teacher , Author: All We Can Save said: "The climate crisis is a leadership crisis. Research shows that women are vital voices and agents of change for this planet, but we're too often missing from the proverbial table. More than a problem of bias, this sets us up for failure. To turn away from the brink and move toward a life-giving future for all, we must have true and equal representation — most especially at COP 26."
Farhana Yamin, Founder Track 0, Climate Lawyer & Former Advisor to H.E. President Hilda Heine, Republic of the Marshall Islands said: “The struggle for climate justice is also the struggle for racial, gender, sexual and economic justice. It is sad that in 2020 women are being excluded from the vital preparations necessary for making next year's UN Climate Summit in Glasgow a success. The gendered impacts of climate change means we must ensure an equal balance between men and women at all levels, especially within the COP26 senior management team. It is difficult to see how the current predominantly male-led COP26 team will ensure that women's voices and needs are heard."
The letter reveals the disappointment and frustration felt by many climate leaders, that the current COP26 leadership team is predominantly male, failing to accommodate gender balance and ignoring the benefits that women’s leadership brings to the climate debate.
SHEChangesClimate has a team of high profile and senior climate leaders ready and willing to join the team and the ambassadors for COP26, working alongside existing members of the leadership team.
The campaign media briefing takes place during the Planetary Emergency Partnership Conference and Strategic Planning Roundtables 9 -10 December 2020, organised by Elise Buckle, President and Director of Climate & Sustainability, Advisor to the UN.
The Climate Ambition Summit on 12 December, hosted by UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Prime Minister Boris Johnson, will mark the fifth anniversary of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, to rally momentum and call for much greater climate action and ambition.
Members of the public are invited to support the campaign on social media using #SHEChangesClimate and to follow the campaign at www.shechangesclimate.org and @sheclimate on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
-Ends-
Notes to Editors
For interviews with women climate leaders and signatories, please contact:
Gabriella.Smith@greenhousepr.co.uk
Rachel.Parkes@greenhousepr.co.uk
In 2020, SHEChangesClimate was founded by Antoinette Vermilye, Bianca Pitt and Elise Buckle, with the aim to bring transparency and accountability to the COP negotiations on Climate Change.
The SHEChangesClimate Campaign believes that gender balance on leadership teams for Climate COPs not only encourages better leadership and governance, but diversity and inclusion further contributes to better all-round negotiation performance, and ultimately increased results for both the participating nations and all their citizens. Diversity and the fostering of inclusive delegations also plays an important role in increasing innovation, attracting talent, and enhancing reputation and standing.
Signatories include: Caroline Nokes MP, Baroness Goudie, Baroness Rosie Boycott, Baroness Martha Lane-Fox, Dame Emma Thompson, Gillian Burke, Lily Cole, Jody Williams, Caroline Lucas MP, Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, Jennifer Morgan, Kate Brandt, Xiye Bastida, Ella Daish, Catherine Howarth, Jude Kelly, Carly McLachlan, Sarah Olney MP, Sumru Ramsey, Fiona Reynolds, Amiera Sawas and Farhana Yamin.
ADDITIONAL QUOTES FROM SIGNATORIES
Sylvia Earle, Founder, Mission Blue, National Geographic Explorer in Residence said: “The challenges we face today in the climate and ecological emergency are unprecedented and, as such, demand a fresh approach. The next ten years will be the most important of the next 10,000. Let’s be sure that viewpoints and perspectives of half the planet are able to contribute to the COP26 leadership team decision making. The outcomes from this COP will be crucial to all of us.”
Dr Mya-Rose Craig AKA Birdgirl said: "Fighting climate change with immediate action is absolutely imperative and COP26 is at the forefront of instigating that action. Yet, the leadership team is mostly male. I call for the UK COP26 President to take urgent steps to rectify this, as we will not succeed in tackling the climate crisis without women’s inclusion. We can and must have a gender-balanced team to be effective and successful"
Bella Lack, Youth Ambassador Born Free Foundation said: “Nature is in our lives and all around us -we just need to look for it. That mindset of looking at nature and for it, is one that I often find from women and girls seeking to protect and nurture. We need to take that protective instinct and apply it to the planet. The COP26 leadership team is negotiating for my future and my children’s. I want women’s perspectives clearly and demonstrably included in these outcomes.”
COPY OF LETTER TO UK PRIME MINISTER BORIS JOHNSON, ALOK SHARMA MP AND COP26 PRESIDENT PETER HILL
Thursday 10 December 2020
URGENT ACTION REQUIRED
FOR WOMEN REPRESENTATION IN LEADERSHIP TEAM FOR COP26
We represent a group of powerful women*, including more than 100 recognised climate leaders in the UK, who are deeply concerned about the lack of gender balance in the UK COP26 leadership team - which is currently predominantly male. We ask that this is addressed with urgency to ensure that women are fairly represented.
It is incomprehensible that half the planet is not represented in the senior leadership team where the framing, narrative, issues and content for COP26 will be decided, when it is widely acknowledged that the role of women is critical in tackling the climate and ecological emergency.
The evidence is clear that women and girls are more vulnerable to climate change impacts. Women and girls more often face the brunt of climate related disasters than men. They are the ‘shock absorbers’ of climate change: impacts disproportionately hit their livelihoods and food security, drive up levels of the violence they experience, and hold them back from engaging in education and the green economy.
For their interests to be appropriately considered in climate change policy responses, women need to be involved in strategic planning and decision-making. This has been made very clear, as a priority area, in the enhanced Gender Action Plan, which the UK Government championed at COP25. The UK must lead by example, as the host of COP26 to send a clear signal to parties that the enhanced GAP must be enforced.
For the UK as the host country to neglect to take a stand on strengthening women’s voices in the international climate debate would be a step backwards for climate justice and a failure of responsibility to put together the strongest and best equipped team.
There is overwhelming evidence to suggest that an all-male leadership of the UK-hosted climate talks in 2021 will be not be as respected and effective as a gender balanced team, and that we need the concerns, attitudes, talents and leadership of women represented.
• UNFCCC outlines the need for gender balance in climate diplomacy. Women’s vulnerability to climate change is a longstanding concern in the international negotiations1.
• Evidence shows that a lack of gender balance in key political decisions on climate is also more likely to prevent effective action to tackle the climate emergency. Research on deliberative democracy2 highlights the importance of diversity for tackling climate change: more inclusive and participatory decision-making improves the quality of decision-making, because it reflects and incorporates a wider range of perspectives and expertise.
• Inclusion of women also leads to stronger outcomes on implementation. Evidence shows that involving people in decision-making who will be affected by these decisions influences policy support among the public3.
• Climate change risk perception and concern is higher among women than among men 4; women tend to be concerned about different aspects of climate change from men, and to be more in support of policies and lifestyle changes to tackle climate change. Women and men experience and shape climate change in very different ways, something that is well-understood by the UNFCCC5. The more powerful groups in society are more likely to oppose regulatory policies6 to tackle climate change because they threaten the status quo. Climate change scepticism is overwhelmingly white and male7 .
We want to urge the UK government to reflect on the evidence and understand that not having a diverse COP leadership is likely to undermine their global credibility on climate change and their call to other nations for ambitious and just climate action8 .
The challenges we face today in the climate and ecological emergency are unprecedented and, as such, demand a fresh approach. The brightest minds and most imaginative problem-solvers are required to confront today’s challenges.
When women have played a decisive role in previous UN climate talks in recent times, it has resulted in bold climate action and outcomes, despite significant opposition.
THE ASKS
1. A balanced representation of men and women at the high-level team for COP26.
Embrace women’s equal participation and support gender equality (GAP).
COP26 approach is transparent and accountable.
2. Show global leadership by ensuring the UK’s updated Nationally Determined Contribution includes a gender analysis and commitment to tackling gender inequality via action on reducing emissions.
3. Ensure climate finance is gender inclusive (developing minimum standards) to increase accessibility to finance for women-led and women’s rights organisations addressing climate change impacts on the front line.
We have more than 100 signatories to this letter, as well as a network of women who are determined to ensure that our voices are heard, from CEOs of the UK’s leading conservation NGOs, to leaders in the city and green finance, to politicians, scientists and policy makers, we ask for an urgent response.
We are standing by and are ready to present a female team of high level players ready to provide their input, and provide transparency and accountability working alongside existing leadership members of the team. We are ready to step up now. We await your reply.
APPENDIX
Quotes from prominent women leaders on the response on the failure to include women in the leadership team for COP26:
Carolyn Fairbairn, the director general of the UK’s CBI employers’ organisation:
“If ever there was a moment for real diversity in our leadership, this is it. So many communities are affected by [the climate crisis]. We need a team of all talents, and that must be diverse in all respects.”
Former president of Ireland Mary Robinson, twice a UN envoy on climate issues, said:
“This diminishes the impact [the UK will have]. Gender divisions in climate are very significant. Having women in leadership is important to ensure these issues are enthusiastically taken up.”
A spokesperson for Nicola Sturgeon, first minister for Scotland said: “Women and girls around the world are on the frontline of the fight for climate justice, and the UK government’s implicit failure to acknowledge that speaks volumes about its own attitudes, although it is perhaps not surprising coming from a government which has made clear its intent to flout diplomatic and legal norms and to break international law.”
Youth activist, Pauline Owiti, Fridays for Future movement in Kenya. “Effective climate action should bring everyone to the table while recognising the value of their knowledge and their potential as agents of change.”
Aoife Mercedes Rodriguez-Uruchurtu, a 16-year-old activist from the UK, added: “Once again, we face the consequences of a society ruled by capitalist oligarchs and once again we, in particular women, are silenced.”
Muna Suleiman, a climate campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “Women and children are 14 times more likely than men to suffer direct impacts of natural disasters and climate breakdown, yet are regularly shut out of the decision-making that’s supposed to change things. The UK needs to resolve this as it hosts the UN climate talks next year, but it’s already treading familiar ground as an old boys’ club where women are left off the top table."
Reference to the existing UNFCCC recommendations on climate and gender:
• Takes note of the report on the gender composition of Party delegations and constituted bodies, which highlights the persistent lack of progress in and the urgent need for improving the representation of women in Party delegations and constituted bodies;
• Acknowledging that climate change is a common concern of humankind, Parties should, when taking action to address climate change, respect, promote and consider their respective obligations on gender equality, empowerment of women.
• Acknowledging the continuing need for gender mainstreaming through all relevant targets and goals in activities under the Convention as an important contribution to increasing their effectiveness, fairness and sustainability.
• Recognises with concern that climate change impacts on women and men can often differ owing to historical and current gender inequalities and multidimensional factors and can be more pronounced in developing countries and for local communities and indigenous peoples.
----
1 https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/sbi2019_inf8.pdf
2 https://www.nap.edu/catalog/12434/public-participation-in-environmental-assessment-and-decision-making
3 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3763/cpol.2009.0673 4https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312067281_Race_class_gender_and_climate_change_communication
5 https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/sbi2019_inf8.pdf
6 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0146167209351435
7 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S095937801100104X
8 https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-climate-action-cannot-be-another-victim-of-coronavirus