The secretariat organized a virtual information session on 26 May 2023 at 13:00 CEST to provide further information on what can be expected on gender at SB 58.​

Did you miss it?

Recording of the event is available in English I Spanish I French

The presentation is available here.

6 June 2023

World Conference Centre - Bonn, Germany

Background

The intermediate review of the implementation of the gender action plan under the enhanced Lima work programme on gender adopted amendments to the plan (decision 24/CP. 27, annex, para 1), including a new deliverable under activity A.2, namely, “a dialogue with the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, national gender and climate change focal points and other relevant stakeholders on how their work contributes to the achievement of the objectives of the gender action plan”.

The dialogue will build on past discussions with national gender and climate change focal points (NGCCFPs) and other stakeholders on their contributions to the implementation of the gender action plan. It will also be informed by relevant findings from the recent World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports, which highlights the benefits of developing inclusive governance tools, which can help in creating long-lasting and effective climate-resilient policies while promoting equity.

Objectives

The overall objective of the dialogue will be to create the space where participants of the 58^th Session of the Subsidiary Bodies will interact with the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women), NGCCFPs and other relevant stakeholders to discuss how their work contributes to the achievement of the objectives of the UNFCCC gender action plan, identifying ongoing and planned work. Specifically, the dialogue will:

• Enable NGCCFPs and all other stakeholders to identify the linkages between the UNFCCC Lima work programme on gender and its action plan and other policy and international frameworks/instruments relevant for gender and climate change, in particular the Rio Conventions, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and its General Recommendations, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the outcomes of the Commission on the Status of Women, United Nations General Assembly, the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, the Human Rights Council and relevant initiatives.
• Advance in-depth reflections on challenges to and opportunities for effective coordination and alignment of climate and gender policy frameworks across different levels of government to enable delivery on such frameworks – at the national, regional and international levels.
• Explore opportunities for engagement and partnerships on key issues addressed in the abovementioned policy frameworks to support gender-responsive climate action.

Key issues

I. Policy coherence and coordination

The dialogue will:

• Identify linkages between gender and climate change mandates under the UNFCCC process and other policy frameworks, in particular the Rio Conventions, Commission on the Status of Women, the CEDAW Convention.
• Discuss how these policy instruments and coordination mechanisms across levels of government can be aligned towards better delivery on relevant gender and climate change mandates at national/regional levels, including gender action plans under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD) and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

II. Opportunities for collaborative efforts and activities on key gender and climate justice issues

The dialogue will:

• Focus on key issues addressed in the policy frameworks discussed in Session I that are of key relevance in the intersection of gender and climate change (e.g. women’s land rights, sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender-based violence and environmental defenders, women’s leadership and participation in climate action, including via feminist and women’s organizations and movements, gender and climate data, care)

• Identify opportunities for collaborative efforts and activities between governments and other stakeholders, considering the discussion on Session I, explore the role of civil society and multi-stakeholder initiatives such as the Generation Equality Action Coalition on Feminist Action for Climate Justice, among others.

Format of the event

The dialogue will be held on 6 June 2023. With the expectation to engage several stakeholder constituencies, especially the NGCCFPs, these sessions will be moderated sessions/follow different formats:

Session I (3 hours): Policy coordination and coherence

Moderation: UNFCCC Gender team

*Due to changes in schedule, the interactive session in World Café format did not take place.

Session II (3 hours) Opportunities for collaborative efforts and activities on key gender and climate justice issues

The discussion on the different topics will be led by relevant organizations and NGCCFPs.

Moderation: UNFCCC Gender team

Expert meeting to share experience and support capacity-building on gender budgeting, including on the integration of gender-responsive budgeting into national budgets to advance gender-responsive climate policies, plans, strategies and action, as appropriate (GAP activity D1)

13 and 14 June 2023

Meeting room Bangkok

World Conference Centre - Bonn, Germany

Background

The enhanced Lima work programme on gender and its gender action plan highlights the importance of gender-responsive means of implementation for ensuring effectiveness, fairness and sustainability of the implementation of the Convention and the Paris Agreement.

In particular, ensuring financing for gender and climate change action and ensuring gender-responsiveness of climate finance, were identified as a priority, including through an invitation to public and private entities to increase the gender-responsiveness of climate finance.[1] Parties reaffirmed the importance of gender-responsive finance as part of the intermediate review of activities under the gender action plan at COP 27 by encouraging Parties and relevant public and private entities to strengthen the gender responsiveness of climate finance with a view to further building the capacity of women and for implementation work under the gender action plan, and in order to facilitate simplified access to climate finance for grass-roots women’s organizations as well as for indigenous peoples, especially women, and local communities.[2]

Activity D.1 under the priority area on gender-responsive implementation and means of implementation includes an invitation to Parties, the secretariat and relevant organizations to share experiences and support capacity-building on gender budgeting, including on the integration of gender-responsive budgeting into national budgets to advance gender-responsive climate policies, plans, strategies and action, as appropriate in 2023.[3]

Context

An increasing number of Parties to the convention are integrating gender in their NDCs and recognizing it as a condition for ambitious, effective and just climate action. However, while 102 countries under UNDP’s Climate Promise countries integrate gender considerations in their NDCs, only 22 countries mentioned gender in relation to climate finance strategies or plans.[4] Further, does the fact that the integration of gender in long-term strategies is varied and a majority of LT-LEDS contains limited or no reference to gender[5] shows a continued need, both for financial support for policy formulation, alignment and gender integration as well as for the implementation of gender-responsive climate action.

As Parties are setting out to define a new collective quantified goal on finance the reality of an immense financing gap for climate adaptation and mitigation is undisputed with financing needs in the trillions.[6] While financing levels of Official Development Assistance (ODA) to climate action (USD 33.1 billion) and to climate ODA integrating gender equality (USD 18.9 billion) are at an all-time high, climate ODA that is dedicated to gender equality as the principal objective stood at only USD 778 million in 2018-2019 – a little over 0.04% of all climate-related ODA.[7] Moreover, women’s organizations receive only 0.13% of the total ODA, 0.4% of all gender related aid and 99% of development aid and foundation grants do not directly reach women’s organizations.[8]

While private financing will play a key role in enabling countries, communities and individuals to address the climate crisis, public finance remains key in the transition towards a climate-friendly, just and equitable society.

Objective

In collaboration with other organizations including UNDP the secretariat is organizing a meeting to introduce participants, including Party representatives, observers, experts, and those working on gender and climate change or financing, to the landscape of climate finance and its potential to enhance gender equality, with a focus on frameworks, methodologies and tools, such as gender budgeting, for integrating gender in public finance. The sessions will cover financing for the purpose of building capacity and systems that enable gender-responsive planning and implementation, as well as financing for climate policy and action that is gender-responsive. The meeting will enable participants to learn about tools and methodologies, including gender budgeting, facilitate the exchange of experiences and include country examples.

15 June 2023 

Meeting room Addis Abeba 1-3

World Conference Centre - Bonn, Germany

Background                                                                    

Constituted bodies have an important guidance and capacity-building role with a wide range of responsibilities and activities spanning all thematic areas of the convention and Paris Agreement. They thus play an important role in ensuring progress towards Parties’ goal on advancing knowledge and understanding of gender-responsive climate action and its coherent mainstreaming across the UNFCCC.

At COP 22, all constituted bodies under the UNFCCC process were requested to include in their regular reports information on progress made towards integrating a gender perspective in their processes.[1] By the same decision, the COP requested the secretariat to prepare a biennial synthesis report on information contained in the reports. COP 23 adopted a gender action plan[2] including a priority area on coherence that sought to strengthen the integration of gender considerations within the work of UNFCCC constituted bodies, the secretariat and other United Nations entities and stakeholders towards the consistent implementation of gender-related mandates and activities. The gender action plan under the enhanced Lima work programme on gender, agreed at COP 25, maintained the coherence priority area.[3]

COP 25 took note of the first report on progress in integrating a gender perspective into constituted body processes, which indicated that an increasing number of UNFCCC constituted bodies were reporting on gender[4] and encouraged constituted bodies to continue strengthening their efforts in this area.[5] It requested all constituted bodies to continue to include in their regular reports information on progress towards integrating a gender perspective into their processes[6] and the secretariat to continue preparing biennial synthesis reports on progress in integrating a gender perspective into constituted body processes.[7][8]

Under the gender action plan, activity C.2 aims to support constituted bodies in meeting the request from the COP referred to above.[9] In accordance with the activity, the secretariat produced a compilation of good practices[10] and invited Chairs of constituted bodies to participate in a survey on the topic for a dialogue to be held between them at SB 58. This dialogue provides an opportunity for UNFCCC constituted bodies to exchange views and consider best practices on how to strengthen the integration of gender perspectives into their work.

Objective

To allow a discussion amongst the Chairs and Co-Chairs of constituted bodies on the best practices to further progress on the goal of integrating gender considerations into their work, reflect on challenges, identify possibilities for collaboration amongst constituted bodies and for contributing to other work programmes and processes.

Agenda and Format

Moderation by Stephen Minas, Member and Gender Focal Point of the Technology Executive Committee

Presentation

UNFCCC and Constituted Bodies presentations

Did you miss it?

Broadcast on demand is available here: 

15 June 2023 - 10:00 - 13:00 

National Gender and Climate Change Focal Points (NGCCFPs) will meet on Saturday 10 June 2023 from 11:00 to 13:00.

Meeting room Bangkok, WCCB.

Bonn, Germany

Access via SB 58 platform: Closed to Parties

Interpretation in plenary English, Spanish and French

Tentative agenda