UN Climate Change News, 2 December 2018 – Promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women will be a key component of the UN Climate Change Conference Poland this year (COP 24, 2 – 14 December).

The UNFCCC Gender Action Plan (GAP) promotes the mainstreaming of gender into climate policy and action at all levels. Gender-responsiveness is critical for the effectiveness of any policy and action and it is critical that the needs, perspectives, experiences and knowledge of all people impacted by climate change are taken into account.

COP 24 marks the half way point of the Gender Action Plan (GAP) established at COP 23 under the Lima work programme on gender.

The GAP clusters activities into five priority areas:

• Capacity-building, knowledge sharing and communication
• Gender balance, participation and women’s leadership
• Coherence (on gender and climate change across UNFCCC and UN system)
• Gender-responsive implementation and means of implementation
• Monitoring and reporting

At COP 24, governments will consider this year’s gender composition report  prepared by the secretariat which reveals that for the first time since reporting began in 2013 and six years after the COP adopted a goal of gender balance in technical and decision making bodies established under the UNFCCC, more than half of these bodies have female representation of 38 per cent or more. Furthermore, there is a record number of female delegates elected to the position of Chair or Co-Chair of these bodies – nine out of a possible 28 positions. Though these improvements represent steps in the right direction to achieve the goal of gender balance, there is clearly much more to be done.

At COP 24, Parties, observers, and the secretariat will be showcasing how they have been supporting the implementation across all five priority areas of the GAP through a programme of activities, discussions and exhibitions.

Join us as we #ActOnTheGAP at COP 24!

Tuesday, 4 December

Feedback session on LWPG and the GAP (open to Parties, observers and the media)
13:15 - 14:45

The secretariat will host its regular lunchtime feedback session presenting on the activities undertaken since COP 23 in support of the Lima work programme on gender and the GAP. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session.

Thursday, 6 December

Capacity for Change: Women Delegates Fund networking breakfast (by invitation)
8:00 - 9:30

Never too early to start a conversation, the Women Delegates Fund Capacity for Change networking breakfast, co-hosted by Women’s Environment and Development Organisation (WEDO) and UNFCCC secretariat, will celebrate capacity building initiatives under the Convention, including those to advance women’s leadership in climate diplomacy. The networking breakfast will feature a short programme, with inputs from women delegates and experts on capacity building under the Convention and Paris Agreement.

Thursday, 6 and Friday, 7 December

In-person training workshop for NGCCFPs (open to NGCCFPs and nominated Party delegates)
Thursday, 15:00 - 18:00 and Friday, 9:30 – 12:30

In collaboration with WEDO and UN Women, the secretariat will be providing an in-person training workshop for National Gender and Climate Change Focal Points (NGCCFPs) as part of a capacity-building initiative for NGCCFPs. The training workshop builds on the discussions held during SB 48 with Heads of Delegation and NGCCFPs to identify capacity-building needs they had in order to perform their roles and the NGCCFP webinar held in November.

Tuesday, 11 December - Gender Day

(Open to Parties, observers and the media)

Gender Day is dedicated to raising awareness of the importance of gender-responsive climate policy and action as well as highlighting women’s leadership in climate action. In addition to focussing on the implementation of the GAP, this year’s Gender Day will include highlights related to gender and climate technology.

CTCN & UNEP DTU Partnership Technology Needs Assessment & Gender Workshop
8:00 - 09:30

Kicking off Gender Day, this workshop responds to a request in the GAP for UNEP DTU Partnership and the Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN) to invite interested stakeholders to share information on the incorporation of gender into technology needs assessments (TNAs) during Gender Day.  During the workshop, participants will discuss experiences and identify key activities to strengthen gender considerations in TNAs, while highlighting opportunities for collaboration between governments including NGCCFPs, implementing entities, operating entities of the Financial Mechanism and non-state actors.

High Level Event – Raising ambition and changing lives: climate change, technology and gender
10:00 - 11:30

Addressing the challenge and complexity of climate change requires a systems approach that identifies and addresses interlinkages and interdependencies. In the case of climate technology and gender, that means assessing the whole of the technology life-cycle, starting with the human dimension of knowledge and skills for creating and developing technology, through to retail and commercial consumption. This dynamic high level panel will discuss the question ‘how do we ensure that technology development and transfer contributes to gender-responsive climate policy and action?’ from different perspectives.

@ the Action Hub
12:00 - 18:00

Gender Day @ the Climate Action Hub will be a dynamic programme showcasing the action that countries, sub-national actors, civil society organisations, private sector, individuals have taken that support the acceleration and enhancement of gender-responsive climate policy and action in support of the GAP and the realizing the objectives of the Paris Agreement. The Action Hub provides the opportunity for participatory, inclusive, interactive, lively and dynamic conversations around gender-responsive climate action. The Action Hub stage will be webcast and enable Facebook live videos of events and activities.

See here for more information on these and other gender-related events. You can also find information on other dynamic side events throughout the two weeks of COP to inspire you on how to #ActOnTheGap!

And make sure you look out for the #ActOnTheGAP Action List that will be published each day! This year, side event organizers were invited to commit to achieving gender balance in their panels. Every day during COP 24 a list of side events that approach or reach gender balance – the #ActOnTheGAP Action List – will be published here.