catalogue of initiatives

Women4ClimateAction

Catalogue of Initiatives addressing the climate and gender nexus

#Women4ClimateAction

Women4ClimateAction Daring Circle Initiatives addressing the climate and gender nexus

IntroductionThis document presents a selection of initiatives that have been collected and assessed as part of the work

of the Women4ClimateAction Daring Circle to identify replicable and scalable initiatives that address both

gender and climate simultaneously. This on-going work will be used by the Women’s Forum to identify and

promote best-practices that public authorities, private sector organisations and individuals can adopt to

support the 5 goals of the Women’s Forum Charter for Engagement on Women leading climate action.

Today, we present these initiatives to inform and inspire our conversations at the Women’s Forum Global

Meeting in Paris on how we can take action to unlock women’s leadership in climate action and create a

sustainable and equal world.

MethodologyKPMG, in association with EcoAct, as Knowledge Partners of the Daring Circle, have been collecting

initiatives via the networks of the Daring Circle Partners and the Women’s Forum, including public institutions,

NGO’s, corporates and startups. A questionnaire has been designed for the interviewing of project owners

and an internal rating tool has been developed in order to assess the initiatives. The criterion of assessment

includes: Climate Component, Gender Component, Potential of replicability and Complexity of action. An

indicative score has been attributed to each initiative and an overall score created to inform the selection and

profiling of best practices and scalable initiatives by the Women’s Forum.

If you would like to be involved in the work of the Daring Circle, or to submit an initiative to be considered in

our research, please contact: [email protected]

Women4ClimateAction Daring Circle, an initiative of the Women’s Forum for the Economy & Society

Catalogue of initiatives:

Overview

These results are based on 35 initiatives collected and analyzed from April to mid-October 2019, of which 29

are displayed in detail in this document.

• The majority of initiatives address the energy transition or agriculture.


• Initiatives are equally led by companies, business foundations and NGOs.

• The target beneficiaries and participants of initiatives include individuals, corporates and public authorities.



Overview


• Amongst 10 initiatives with the highest overall scores according to our methodology, three main

categories stand out: “Energy Transition”, “STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics)”

and “Policy and Governance”. Initiatives addressing challenges related to these particular strategic field

have generally been identified as more capable of being replicated around the world and supporting the

5 goals of the Charter for Engagement.


Characteristics of success


• The most effective initiatives are those basing their work on structured guidelines. These guidelines are

a key tool for companies and organizations to truly address the climate and gender nexus. When well

structured, these initiatives have a stronger potential for scalability and reproducibility.

• Nine of the top 10 initiatives’ founders and project managers are women.


Characteristics of success

Achieve gender equality in climate decision-making bodies by 2030

Raise awareness among all generations of the interactions between gender and climate and provide girls with access to education and green jobs

Improve access to essential and productive means to enable women’s full engagement in climate change action

Integrate gendered data to highlight and inform the development of climate policies and actions

Finance and develop gender-responsive and scalable social, economic and technological climate solutions

Goals of the Charter for Engagement onWomen leading climate action

Color code

I

II

III

IV

V


INITIATIVES


INITIATIVES

During the Climate African week held from March 18 to 22, 45 Civil Society Organizations pleaded for more dialogue between African governments regarding Climate policy. They also advocated progressively quitting intensive agriculture for agroecology. It is the only solution for them that conciliates financial profits, consumer health and protection of the biodiversity.

Implementing stakeholders

Individuals

African Climate WeekCivil Society

II III

INITIATIVES


III

Agroforesterie Gingembre

Ivory Coast had the highest growth of Sub Saharan Africa in 2016, with 8.5%. Its forest area represents around 3.2 million hectares and yet the country suffers from a high poverty rate and its population is vulnerable to climate change. The NGO R20 and the Ivory Coast’s government worked together to develop agroforestry Gingembre through farms of ginger undergrowth in the regions of Bounkani and Kabadougou (Ivory Coast) in order to increase wages for poor women in rural areas while preserving the environment. The traditional framework is meant to grow into a new, more ecofriendly farming model by using green technologies.


Public authorities and Individuals

INITIATIVES


Ashden Foundation Gingembre

Ashden is a London-based charity founded by Sarah Butler Sloss in 2001. The activity consists in lobbying forsustainable energy and development through yearly awards; the “Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy”.Ten awards are given each year all over the word. The foundation works with experts’ partners to offer winners apackage of support to help them expand, tailored to each winner and ranged to from mentoring, business andtechnical guidance to introductions to finance. Also, The Ashden Foundation encourage every winner to sharetheir experience through the Ashden India collective, their Less C02 flagship mentoring program for schools in theUK, as well as conferences and others. Winners’ solutions are championed through events, publicity, research andengagement in policy consultations. Ashden patron is His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales.


Public authorities VI

INITIATIVES


CanaanLand

The Canaan Land vocational project provides long-term access to land for women farmers who are trained by the organization in sustainable farming techniques. In July 2018, three members of the Follow’her association volunteered to help five women entrepreneurs in Africa, devoting just over a month to each project, putting their business skills to work on social and ecological projects. Thanks to an application specially designed to help them and provide them with online training, women farmers who join the initiative will be able to manage their own production and become autonomous. The concept of Canaan Land is an agriculture of 0 deforestation, 0 pesticides, 100% inclusive.


Individuals V

INITIATIVES


Darfur Low-Smoke

Stoves projectThe Darfur Low-Smoke Stoves project, created in 2008 by EcoAct, and implemented locally by Practical Action, was the first registered carbon credit project in Sudan and was the first to be developed in a conflict zone. It improves household health in over 11,000 homes in El Fasher by replacing indoor traditional cooking methods of burning wood and charcoal with low-smoke LPG stoves. The sale of carbon credits enables to microfinance of the stoves to the homes, with Phase III funded by Scharr. Women and children are most vulnerable to the risks associated with using traditional fuel, due to the time commitments of cooking, security risks associated with daily fuel collection and health impacts from inhalation of indoor pollution, which kills more people than malaria, HIV/AIDs and TB combined. By creating, promoting and financing the project the partners are furthering the climate resilience, increasing gender equality and reducing financial burdens for women. EcoAct currently works to sustain the management of the project after 2020 with the aim to handover management to the local Women’s Development Association Network, which will further enable female empowerment in decision-making.This project was recognized ‘Best individual project’ on the voluntary carbon market in 2019 by Environmental Finance.


Corporates VI IVII III

INITIATIVES


Eco Wave Power Generating clean

energy from the ocean

Eco Wave Power (EWP) has developed an innovative technology that produces clean electricity from ocean and sea waves. The project generates clean and affordable electricity, using a simple design that allows the project’s uniquely shaped floaters to be attached to existing man-made structures (such as piers, breakwaters and jetties), and thereby simplifying the installation process, as well as maintenance and accessibility. The company’s technology has won awards, as has its co-founder, Inna Braverman, named among the world’s most influential women, for spurring the commercialization of wave energy, which could transform the world’s energy mix and help the global fight against climate change. EWP has received the Energy Globe Award, and awards from Erasmus University, SET100, Frost & Sullivan, The Israeli Ministry of Energy, Business Green, and the Women4Climate tech challenge by C40.


Corporates III

INITIATIVES


Feminist Electrification

Ensuring Pro-Women

Outcomes in Rural

Energy AccessEnergy poverty -- a lack of access to modern energy services -- disproportionately affects women in rural areas. EarthSpark International, a women-run enterprise, is meeting this challenge head-on by approaching all its energy access projects with agender lens, referring to this as “feminist electrification.” Feminist electrification increases the participation of and benefits to women in rural areas across infrastructure planning, training and employment, local women-led business support, domestic energy use, and community resource availability. EarthSpark has sold over 18,000 small-scale clean energy products ranging from solar lanterns to efficient cookstoves benefiting over 80,000 people and is now working to develop 80 microgrids in Haiti that will directly benefit 200,000 people with microgrid connections and a further 400,000 through access to businesses and services powered by electricity.


Corporates II III

INITIATIVES


Fostering Cleaner

Production

An all-women leadership alliance is helping transform Colombia’s highly polluting construction industry into a cleaner, greener business. The initiative brings together leading women from academia, utility companies, public organizations and large and small industries to create partnerships to foster clean production practices. Women who have led successful cleaner production projects are working to develop cleaner production proposals to minimize industrial pollution in the region, including a proposal related to 450 small-scale industries located in one area in the city of Cali. Research projects, training and certificate programs are being developed together with a local university and an NGO to support women working in the construction industry who want to introduce cleaner production practices in their organization’s processes.


Individuals II III

INITIATIVES


Friendship

Runa Khan, an Ashoka fellow and Schwab Foundation social entrepreneur, is the Founder and Executive Director of Friendship, an NGO supporting remote communities in Bangladesh. Established in 2002, Friendship serves 4.2 million lives a year, providing integrated services in Health, Education, Sustainable Economic Development, Climate Change Adaptation & Disaster Management, Inclusive Citizenship and Cultural Preservation with a strong focus on women. Friendship has also been active in the Rohingya crisis response in Bangladesh recently with health, watsan, reforestation and educational services. Engie supports the initiative.


Public authorities II III

INITIATIVES


G.R.E.A.T Declaration

During the G7 rounds in Metz on January 5-6 2019, the French government through the French Ministry of Environment made a statement called «DECLARATION OF INTENTION OF SUPPORT FOR G.R.E.A.T.» (Gender Responsive Environmental Action & Training) publicly supported by L’Oréal. “We, governments, representatives of companies, civil society, foundations, development banks and scientific and technological research institutes, confirm our willingness to act for highly resilient sustainable development based on a gender-equitable approach”.


Public Authorities and Corporates I II

INITIATIVES


GenderCC- Women

for Climate Justice

GenderCC – Women for Climate Justice is a global network of organisations, experts and activists working for gender equality, women’s rights and climate justice. They started networking at the COP9 in Milan in 2003. GenderCC is working to ensure that gender dimensions are fully integrated into climate policy. Gender responsive approaches must be developed and implemented in adaptation, mitigation and low-carbon development. Three projects are under way: “Gender Into Urban Climate Change Initiative”, research on “Interdependent gender aspects of the fields of need mobility, consumption, nutrition and housing as the foundation of urban environmental protection” and the “Not without US” initiative.


Individuals and Public Authorities IV

INITIATIVES


On February 7th, 2019, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York pleaded in favor of a Green New Deal. In 1933, President Roosevelt launched a massive investment plan to lift America out of the Great Depression. Ocasio-Cortez envisions a new kind of New Deal: massive investment dedicated to the energy transition and social justice. The proposal calls on the federal government to wean the United States off of fossil fuels and curb planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions across the economy.


Public authorities

Green New Deal (GND)

III V

INITIATIVES


Maria Mateo Ibora, an experienced telecommunications engineer, created in association with Annette Houkamer, a former micro-insurance specialist, a startup called Ibisa with the goal of insuring poor farmers around the world. The solution they designed is a collaborative fund, with every customer contributing financially to be insured against climate hazards, such as droughts or flooding. While classic insurance takes months to assess damages, Ibisa’s solution based on satellite imagery and blockchain technology allows instant detection of crop damage so that disaster victims can be quickly compensated.


Corporates and Public authorities

Ibisa

V

INITIATIVES


As part of the European Capacity Building Initiative (ecbi), IIED trains officials from vulnerable developing countries to participate effectively in the UN climate negotiations. The officials they train primarily come from the least developed countries (LDCs). The ecbi training and support program offers regional workshops, Pre-COP workshops and Bursaries for junior negotiators. From 2016-18, they organised nine regional workshops - 43% of women against 57% men. About half of those they had trained – 41 women (51%) and 54 men (51%) – made it to a negotiating session during that timeframe.


Public authorities

iied (International

Institute for

Environment and

Development)

I IV

INITIATIVES


Vandana Shiva, an Indian feminist and ecology activist, launched a Pact for the Earth just before going to the COP 21. Her non-profit Navdanya contributed to the writing of a manifesto that advocates for a moresustainable way of sharing and consuming resources (water, soils, etc.) in order to avoid and mitigate climate havoc. The manifesto with ten engagements received over 12,000 signatures. Agroecology, local resilient economies and democracy are at the heart of this project.


Individuals

Making peace with the earth

III

INITIATIVES


MEbA (Microfinance for Ecosystem-based Adaptation) is a United Nations Environment Programme initiative

that brings technical assistance for Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) so that they offer financial products and

services allowing farmers to engage in environmentally sustainable activities, including women, improving their

income and resilience towards climate change. Women are especially targeted as they represent a large share

of the workforce in agriculture. Phase I (2014-2017) was successfully rolled out in five MFIs in the Andean region

(Peru & Colombia). More than 11,000 credits for EbA were granted, more than 8,000 farmers were trained, 5

collaboration agreements were signed, 5 EbA demonstration farms implemented and 15 million invested by

the private sector. BNP Paribas is taking part in the scaled up version of the project (Phase II: 2018-2019) that

involves 11+ MFIs in Latin America and in Africa, by providing grants to the program and funding to selected MFIs.

It has chosen one in Colombia and one in Senegal that focuses its efforts on women financial inclusion.

Implementing stakeholdersCorporates and Public authorities

MEbA

(Microfinance for

Ecosystem-based

Adaptation)

V

INITIATIVES


Thanks to the PowerCorner project, initiated in early 2015, ENGIE supplies electricity to the village of Ketumbeine, where 800 people live. The installation of a mini-grid of solar panels, which will gradually expand throughout Africa, is one of ENGIE’s key objectives: to provide rural populations with access to environmentally friendly energy. 161 households benefit from clean energy, without depending on kerosene lamps, car batteries or generators. Favorable conditions of access to this green energy are granted to the consumers. Indeed, each of PowerCorner’s 50 customers today pays a connection fee via a mobile system (Mobile Money System).


Corporates

Power Corner

III

INITIATIVES


Resham Sutra: A fair deal forsilk workers

In India wild silk has long been prized as a premium product, with skilled women reeling silk from cocoons to be woven into beautiful fabrics. But thigh-reeling, the traditional process of producing thread, is a physically demanding and undignified process. Resham Sutra has developed a range of affordable electric reeling machines – many powered by solar energy – that vastly improve working conditions and create a predictable, dramatically higher income for over 9,000 silk workers. The Resham Sutra’s Unnati solar reeling machines use 10% of the power of a standard motorised machine and helped most customers doubled their income. Resham Sutra designs, manufactures and commercialises machines for silk yarn and fabric production in states across India. The company has developed 12 types of machines, in collaboration with India’s Central Silk Board, that perform different functions along the yarn and fabric production chain: reeling, twisting, spinning and weaving.


Corporates III

INITIATIVES


Sharing Beauty With All integrates the principles of sustainable development at the heart of the company, covering the entire value chain of innovation, production, distribution, consumers and communities. L’Oréal India supports the progressive reforms undertaken by the government of India and especially the ‘Make in India’ program. Today, 90% of their portfolio is sourced and produced locally at their factories in Pune and Baddi. They also contribute actively to the ‘Skill India’ program through the beauty training initiatives for beauty advisors, beauticians and hair dressers. In 2016 alone, 210,000 beauty trainings were conducted in L’Oréal academies by educators to upskill the salon industry.


Corporates

Sharing Beauty With All

II

INITIATIVES


Small farmers grow most of the world’s food, and agricultural systems have a huge impact on climate change. Sistema.bio has created an innovative, affordable biogas system that turns animal waste into the cleanest of cooking fuels and produces a planet-friendly super fertiliser. The product’s simple, modular design makes it easy to add more capacity if needed, and the option to pay in instalments makes it available to more farmers. Buyers in Latin America, Africa and Asia no longer have to cook using expensive and polluting wood fuel or fossil fuels, reducing deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions. More than 7,000 digesters installed, more than 1.5m trees saved and more than 100,000 tons of CO2e mitigated. How does the digester work? Manure is added with water to a feeder tank. This is stirred and then released into the digester. There is no pumping or mechanics involved as waste moves through gravity down a pipe into a reactor bag. Bacteria breaks down the waste to create methane, water and bio-fertiliser slurry.


Corporates

Sistema.bio: Clean

affordable cooking

III

INITIATIVES


Founded in 2011, Frontier Markets is a last-mile distribution company with a mission to create ‘Saral Jeevan’ or an ‘Easy Life’ for rural customers by providing them with access to quality clean energy solutions. Frontier Markets has built a proven and scalable model with a network of 1000 women entrepreneurs (Solar Sahelis) who are trained and given access to technology, marketing, and technical repair, to provide innovative solar solutions to sell to rural households. Solar Sahelis have earned $2 million in income by capturing customer insights, and selling products like solar home systems, clean cookstoves, and renewable energy appliances to 400,000 agri households in Rajasthan. ENGIE supports the Solar Sahely initiative.


Corporates

Solar Sahely

I VIII

INITIATIVES


The GoodPlanet Foundation provides biogas units to rural households in India through the Solidarity Carbon Action program. Each biogas unit enables the family to reduce significantly its CO2 emissions and avoid deforestation for wood collection. This program also aims at freeing women from wood collection time and increase their revenues. Thanks to the carbon offsets of the BNP Paribas and Total Groups, the construction of 21,400 biodigesters has been launched for the benefit of 115,000 people. These 10-year projects are currently in their construction phase, which will last 3 years from 2018. The initiative results from a partnership between the GoodPlanet Foundation, BNP Paribas, Total and SKG Sangha.


Corporates and Public Authorities

Solidarity Carbon Action

III

INITIATIVES


The Bokhol solar project, created in 2016 by Aera Group, is the first ever solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in Senegal and one of the largest in West Africa, providing affordable and sustainable energy to 160, 000 Senegalese in the North of the country mainly. The sale of carbon credits helps improve living conditions for the local communities, especially women by creating jobs with a focus on women and young people with the construction of housing and with the purchase of medical equipment for the local midwife in charge of 12 villages. She treated 5861 patients and helped birth 80 babies in 2017. It also contributes to the construction of a school with decent restrooms, separating boys and girls. The financing and the promotion of the project is supported by EcoAct.


Corporates and Public Authorities

The Bokhol Solar Project

IIIII

INITIATIVES


Jay Nirsimloo, CEO of KPMG France, signed for KPMG on 22 February 2019 a collective agreement with the French UN Women National Committee. In the continuity of this agreement, KPMG supports the He for She Campaign and launched the Women in Energy initiative. The format is a one shot event (4 to 8 March 2019). KPMG’s Partner Valérie Besson (Energy & Utilities EMA) in association with others women Partners in the Energy and Natural resources sector, gives a speech on the role and place of women leadership in this historically male-dominated sector. The aim of the event was to foster employees’personal commitment for equal rights between men and women by signing a petition or contributing to the production of a white book on gender equality.


Corporates

The He for She campaign/Women in

Energy

III

INITIATIVES


Carole Maurage, founder of an innovation agency MyNeedMySolution decided to launch a marathon of innovation centered on women empowerment, social and climate responsibility. 36 hours Hackathons are held each year since the first in 2017, in Toulouse (2017), Paris (2018) and Dakar (2019). Anyone can register to be part of a team yet only women are attributed leading roles. The initiative is supported by the EDF Foundation and the French Ministry of Environment.


Corporates

WO’MIXCITY HACKATHON

II

INITIATIVES


Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris and elected chair of C40, launched a research and mentoring program for the future women leaders in C40 cities, with the objective of empowering climate leaders to shape the future of the planet. The initiative gathers entrepreneurs, innovators, students, scientists, and activists to create every possible synergy. Topical events are held regularly to highlight the key role women play in championing climate action in cities.


Public authorities, Corporates and Individuals

Women 4 Climate

I IV V

INITIATIVES


The United Nations Climate Change secretariat launched Momentum for Change: Women for Results in December 2012. Women for Results recognizes activities that demonstrate the critical leadership and participation of women in addressing climate change. These activities show measurable results, whichcan be potentially replicated and scaled up at the local, national and international levels. The collective operates in collaboration with donors supporting the implementation of the UNFCCC Gender Action Plan. Women for Results showcases Lighthouse Activities that demonstrate concrete results to address climate change. All Women for Results Lighthouse Activities were selected by the Momentum for Change Advisory Panel after receiving dozens of applications from around the world.


Public authorities

Women for Results

II V

INITIATIVES


Louisa Renoux, along with dowens of other influential women, decided to co-write a Women, Health and Climate White Paper. The first electronic version of the White Paper was released in 2016 and is updatedevery year. The goal of the initiative is to raise decision makers’ interest on the topic. Climate change is putting women’s health at risk, mainly in developing countries. The White Paper gathers solutions to improve education and to raise civil commitment. The publication has been downloaded more than 30,000 times. The initiative was supported by UNICEF, Marlene Schiappa (French Secretary of State forGender Equality), BPI France, and Mujeres among others.


Public authorities and Individuals

Women, Health and

Climate White Paper

I

INITIATIVES


In 2013, Sarah Zein began bicycling to avoid the traffic congestion in Damascus, Syria. What should have been a normal bike ride to and from work was interrupted by verbal sexual harassment from bystanders. This motivated her to co-found “Yalla Let’s Bike” (Come on Let’s Bike), an initiative that aims to defy traditional gender roles, combat overcrowded streets, and promote bicycling as a healthy and eco-friendly mode of transportation. Over 4,000 girls and women have participated in “Yalla Let’s Bike” cycling events. According to bike shop owners in Damascus, women and girls have made up 40 percent of buyers in the last two years and bicycle sales have risen by 60% overall in the last few years in Damascus.


Individuals

“Yalla Let’s Bike”

(Come on Let’s Bike)

II

INITIATIVES


catalogue of initiatives

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