International Women’s Day Press Release
Enough is enough. The climate crisis cannot wait for men to act, we need women at the top table now.
London, United Kingdom, 8 March 2022: This International Women’s Day (IWD), women must wait 136 years before we get gender parity. With the latest IPCC report stating half of the world is highly vulnerable to the impacts of the climate crisis, we say enough is enough. The climate crisis cannot wait for men to act, we need women at the top table now.
To highlight this imbalance, campaigning organisation ‘SHE Changes Climate’ has released a new short film. With 2022’s IWD theme being ‘break the bias’, SHE Changes Climate hopes to amplify the leading voices that have so far been missing from climate negotiations. They call on world leaders to implement the Gender Action Plan from COP25 and deliver on their commitment to promote gender equality in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change process.
The need for action is clear, the change-makers say; SHE Changes Climate Co-Founder Antoinette Vermilye:
“After the failure of COP26 to incorporate more women at the top of the COP26 negotiation team, we were hopeful that the COP27 team would be more inclusive. Yet once again the team will be led by a male COP27 President and a male High-Level champion” says
At COP26 in 2020, only 34% of COP26 committees, and 39% of those leading delegations, were women. At the 2021 G7 Summit, there was only one woman amongst the decision makers.
The film, created by Earth Minutes and Visionary Pictures and sponsored by Clim8 Invest, features eight influential climate change-makers. They tell the world that we have to become even more savvy in making sure our political leaders understand the need for gender equality and act on it.
Atossa Soltani, Director of Sacred Headwaters Initiative continues,
“When I look at the forest protection movement, when I look at community organisations, when I look at amazing projects that are helping protect forests, the vast majority are led by women.”
Bianca Pitt, Co-Founder of SHE Changes Climate:
“The climate crisis affects us all, yet the perspectives on, and decisions about how to tackle the crisis have been made mainly by men. “Women represent more than 50% of the population, and yet we continue to be ‘spoken for. When you look at the major climate negotiations, you see rows of suits removed from the lived experience of women experiencing the impacts of climate change. Enough is enough. Women must be represented in climate negotiations.”
As well as not being represented, women also disproportionately suffer the impacts of climate change; according to a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report, 80% of people displaced by climate crises are women. But research has also proven that women are also the most likely change-makers for climate change.
As Joycelyn Longdon, Founder of Climate in Colour describes
“When more women are elected to parliament, stronger environmental bills are passed and they’re enforced more strongly, more strictly.”
As a result, countries with more female parliamentarians have better climate policy and lower recorded emissions, and that female investors are almost twice as likely as male counterparts to validate the importance of integrating environmental and social factors into investment policies and decision making.
The film will be available to watch for free on WaterBear, a streaming platform dedicated to the future of our planet, from 8th March. The official trailer can be watched here:
More information can be found at shechangesclimate.org.
For more information or to arrange interviews:
SHE Changes Climate Co-Founder Bianca Pitt and some of the women featured in the film, are available to be interviewed, subject to availability.
Contact: Rebecca Burgess, Interim Director
rebecca@shechangesclimate.org | 07568510530
Notes to Editors
Starring, in alphabetical order:
● Atossa Soltani, Director, Sacred Headwaters Initiative
● Catherine Howarth, CEO, ShareAction
● Esmeralda de Rethy, Princess Esmeralda of Belgium, journalist and activist for the environment and human rights
● Farhana Yarmin, Lawyer, Author, Activist, Expert Adviser to Climate Vulnerable Forum
● Joycelyn Longdon, Founder, Climate in Colour
● Orsola de Castro, Founder, Fashion Revolution
● Runa Khan, Founder and Executive Director, Friendship NGO
● Verónica Inmunda, CONFENIAE (Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon)
Digital toolkit with stills, posters, logo and copy:
Quotes from the film that can be used:
● ATOSSA SOLTANI: When I look at the forest protection movement, when I look at community organisations, when I look at amazing projects that are helping protect forests, the vast majority are led by women.
● VERÓNICA INMUNDA: It’s not just for us, it’s important for all of humanity. Climate change is not only affecting us, it’s affecting the whole world.
● FARHANA YAMIN: Effective decision-making for me means that, first of all, the people who are affected by a decision take part in making that decision.
● JOYCELYN LONGDON: When more women are elected to parliament, stronger environmental bills are passed and they’re enforced more strongly, more strictly.
● FARHANA YAMIN: Women are completely at the forefront of climate solutions in everyday life.
● CATHERINE HOWARTH: This isn’t a fight that can only be fought by women, it absolutely needs to be men and women coming together.
● ESMERALDA DE RETHY: When it is to be seated at the table of negotiations, when it really matters, well, they’re still not there.
● ATOSSA SOLTANI: I still have hope that we will wake up and see that we're on the edge of the cliff, because, really, the alternative is unthinkable.
● RUNA KHAN: "Women are so often portrayed as victims. They do not need quicksand, but a platform on which to stand."
About SHE Changes Climate:
SHE Changes Climate, the movement behind the film, is a global non-profit organisation that seeks to bring awareness to the crucial role of women in accelerating just climate action. SHE Changes Climate was founded in late 2020 by Antoinette Vermilye, Bianca Pitt and Elise Buckle, with the aim to bring diversity and inclusiveness, transparency and accountability to the COP negotiations on climate change.
We campaign for the equal inclusion of women at top levels of all climate negotiations, and for the speedy implementation of the updated Gender Action Plan (GAP) from COP25 in 2019. Specifically, we call on officials to deliver on their commitment to promote gender equality in the UNFCCC process.
We are committed to ensuring women, in all their diversity, are able to make the critical decisions to save humanity. We do this by influencing governments, raising awareness of inequality and collaborating with other organisations looking for greater equality in climate negotiations.
We spearhead women, the largest excluded party from climate negotiations, with a view to opening the door for all marginalised people.
We are independently funded and have a lean organisational structure. As such, we are small and nimble and can say it as we see it - something most others cannot. We've created a supportive network of thousands from across business, politics, media and social activism. It is our access to this collective power which uniquely places us to secure our mission.
About Clim8
Clim8 is a climate impact investing app empowering people to make a positive impact on the planet, by investing in solutions to climate change, rather than greenwashed funds that are branded as “ethical” or “sustainable”. Available on iOS and Android, the app provides consumers with a simple way to use their money for good, with portfolios which are invested in 400+ companies and funds across green energy, climate technology, clean mobility, sustainable food, water systems and circular economy.
