Page 16 - Pocket Guide to Gender Equality under the UNFCCC

In 2012, research indicated that countries in which women are closer to men in status, rights, and opportunities have lower per capita emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide, when other factors are controlled. Their fndings suggest that efforts to improve gender equality around the world may work synergistically with efforts to curtail global climate change and environmental degradation more generally. Taking gender into account has been shown to enhance the effectiveness of policies across both developed and developing countries. For example, in Ireland and the UK, municipal waste management policies generally ignore the “different understandings and concerns” of women, and are less effective as a result. When looking at equal participation in decision-making in the context of the UNFCCC delegations and constituted bodies, there is reason to be concerned with the slow pace of progress. From 2008-2016, there has been minimal improvement in gender balance. The average participation of women on national delegations has increased from 30% to 36%, peaking in 2014 while sliding backwards to 32% in 2016. While women represented 35% of participants at COP20 in Lima, this decreased to 29% at COP21 in Paris and 30% at COP22 in Marrakech. It is a trend overall that women’s participation is higher at intersessionals than at COP meetings in any given year. Among all constituted bodies, the Joint Implementation Supervisory Committee and the Consultative Group of Experts on National Communications have the highest percentage of women members, with 41% and 46% respectively. Both the Adaptation Committee and Technology Executive Committee have been slowly improving gender balance in member composition, beginning with two women members in 2013 and gradually increasing to six and seven women members