This Monday, women were the other main protagonist in the United Nations Climate Change Summit (COP28) Climate change does not escape gender inequality either. Once again, at the center of the worst consequences, this time, of the climate crisis are they: women and girls. 60 countries have signed an agreement so that the energy transition is also read in a feminine key.

For example, extreme heat affects women’s health as it increases the chances of giving birth prematurely. early and risky births increase. And it also affects how they make a living: the International Labor Organization estimates that right now there are 1.2 billion jobs at risk due to global warming, that’s 40% of the planet’s workforce. Women work in the sectors most sensitive to change because they are in markets, in the fields, in factories. Work that is very difficult to carry out at 50 degrees or, directly, impossible if the fields they cultivate disappear due to drought or floods. At this Monday’s climate summit, a first step was taken to make visible that women are one of the most vulnerable links in this climate crisis.

60 countries, Spain among them, have signed an agreement so that the energy transition is also read in a feminine key. That was the main result of the day in the climate meeting that had gender equality as the central theme of the day along with financing, in which ministers and senior officials participated in a high-level dialogue to address the situation of women in the context of the implementation of the Paris Agreements. They are commitments and actions within three years (at COP31), so that there is better data to support decision making. And to ensure that women’s livelihoods are protected during the energy transition.

As reported by the COP28 presidency in a statement, this pact includes a package of commitments and actions on issues of information and documentation, finances and equal opportunities in the face of the climate crisis. That is, there is better data to support decision-making in energy transition planning; in having more effective financial flows to regions most affected by climate change and in providing education and training to help individual adaptation in the energy transition.

A “serious threat to women”

The agreement is based on the fact that according to the International Labor Organization (ILO), 1.2 billion jobs, almost 40% of the workforce on the entire planet, are at risk due to global warming and environmental degradation, and women will be the most severely affected by this crisis given their high representation in sectors particularly sensitive to climate change. Thus, the signatories agreed to ensure the economic empowerment of women and ensure that the way women earn a livingcan be protected during the transition to a sustainable economy and low carbon consumption.

The meeting was chaired by UN high-level climate champion Razan al Mubarak, who highlighted that “climate change is not gender neutral: it disproportionately impacts women and girls.” “The climate crisis already amplifies existing gender inequalities and constitutes a serious threat to women’s way of life, your well-being and health. To achieve a just transition, we must reform the architecture of the global financial system and ensure that global financial flows to the regions and people who need it most. But also invest in the empowerment of women to ensure that no one is left behind,” she said.

For her part, the executive director of UN Women, Sima Bahous, has stated in response to this agreement that “women’s rights must be at the center of climate action, including here at COP28.” “We must ensure that women are at the table where decisions are made. Strengthen that it is inclusive so that the voices of feminists, youth, indigenous people and other social movements can be heard loudly and clearly from the local to the global,” he added. she. Most of the signatory countries are European and American, including Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as Uruguay, Peru, Venezuela and Mexico, among others.