Women鈥檚 leadership and gender equity can help reduce carbon dioxide emissions, according to several studies summarized by (WECAN) and .
, offered by WECAN Executive Director Osprey Orielle Lake during this summer鈥檚 Scenarios Forum 2022, outlined how gender equity regarding women's leadership, agency, and political and social participation can drive reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
Driving change
A number of studies show that when women are in leadership positions in companies, governance, and society at large, CO2 emissions decrease and climate action increases.
The studies include:
- in the journal Sustainable Development that shows that a 1-point increase in a country鈥檚 score on the Women鈥檚 Political Empowerment Index results in an average 11.51% drop in that country鈥檚 emissions.
- in the European Journal of Political Economy that found female representation in national parliaments across 91 countries correlates with more stringent climate change policies and lower carbon emissions.
- in the Journal of Corporate Finance finding that firms with more women on the board or in leadership positions are less often sued for environmental infringements.
- showing that women in the United States are more likely to express concern regarding climate change than men and are more likely to support policy measures to curb CO2 emissions.
鈥淚n the past, gender has only been included regarding climate impacts,鈥 Lake said. 鈥淐learly, from these studies, gender needs to be included in future scenarios as a driver. Treating gender as a driver would provide policymakers with further understanding of why efforts to improve gender diversity are essential for keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius.鈥
The World Economic Forum鈥檚 鈥,鈥 released after this presentation, reported that it will take another 132 years to close the global gender gap. It added that while 鈥渘o country has yet achieved full gender parity, the top 10 economies have closed at least 80% of their gender gaps, with Iceland (90.8%) leading the global ranking.鈥
Equity not an afterthought
The presentation also highlighted , a media archive highlighting stories of women at the forefront of solutions and advocacy to respond to the climate crisis.
鈥淭he database is designed to shift the narrative as we collect and share thousands of stories and media narratives by and about women leading struggles and solutions for climate justice under 14 cross-sectional themes,鈥 said Lake.
These themes include women鈥檚 leadership in forest and biodiversity protection, Indigenous rights, renewable energy advances, fossil fuel resistance, climate policy, new economies, and water protection.
鈥淕ender equity and women鈥檚 leadership can no longer be an afterthought when drafting climate policy,鈥 Lake said after the presentation. 鈥淔or decades, climate justice movements have been showing how women鈥檚 leadership is necessary for climate solutions. Improving predictive models by including gender equity as a driver of change is necessary if we want to create and implement effective solutions to the climate crisis.鈥
Co-authors included Katherine Quaid, WECAN Communications Coordinator; Samara Hayley Steele, Ph.D. Candidate in Science and Technology Studies at 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis; and Alisha Chan, undergraduate researcher at 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis.
The brought together climate scientists, social scientists, and energy systems modelers engaged in developing a set of predictive climate models and data that inform reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
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Hayley Morris is an intern with the team in the office of Strategic Communications.