Denise Hills’ Post

Year after year, the top-tier #COP leadership team lacks gender (and other forms of) diversity. Is this a result of implicit bias, perhaps a lack of awareness regarding the invaluable contributions diverse perspectives bring to solving complex problems? Or could other factors be at play, such as prioritizing self-interest over the collective concern for the planet's future? Either way, we need a more judicious process for selecting a team of leaders whose perspectives, interests, abilities, and actions will affect every person on the planet. #COP29

Breaking news via The Guardian Damian Carrington: https://lnkd.in/eM3gdW_b As a response to the increasing level of public pressure, President Ilham Aliyev is appointing 12 women to join the COP29 Organizing Committee, preparing for the 29th session of the Conference of the Paris to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which will take place from 11-24 November 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan. This is adding to 30 men, and is good progress, but still far from making its composition fully gender-balanced: a quick fix but not enough. Among the women included are Umayra Taghiyeva, the Deputy Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, the Human Rights Commissioner, Sabina Aliyeva, and Bahar Muradova, the Chair of the State Committee on Family, Women and Children’s problems, all showing a greater level of social and environmental integrity. COP29 President-Designate, Mukhtar Babayev previously spent 26 years working for the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (Socar). Azerbaijan plans to increase its fossil fuel production by a third over the next decade. A rapid fall in fossil fuel burning is vital to avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis and 2023 was the hottest year on record.   The decision adopted at COP28 to transition away from fossil fuels in this critical decade was a major historical milestone. But we must ensure that COP29 doesn't slide back and makes further progress to accelerate the implementation of just transition pathways ensuring clean energy access for all. Inclusion and diversity are essential to make this transition a collective success both at global and national levels. We are inviting the COP29 Presidency to walk the talk and lead by example, championing gender balance, endorsing the inclusion and diversity principles https://lnkd.in/evz-jQ5T and inviting all UNFCCC Parties to do the same. Earlier this week, the COP29 Presidency had initially suggested a list of 28 men to join the Committee. As a response, SHE Changes Climate and partners published an immediate reaction here https://lnkd.in/euAw_AQS which was largely covered by the Guardian https://lnkd.in/eaDdF2hz and many other media outlets https://lnkd.in/euWYYDf6 .    This week as well, the We Mean Business Coalition has been circulating an open letter supported by SHE Changes Climate and partners from all sectors of society.   We are getting in touch with the COP29 Presidency to raise this issue and suggest a list of women leaders and climate experts that could provide further guidance on the way forward. Photo: Deputy Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Umayra Taghiyeva Source: Azerbaycan24

#cop26 was a different vibe - in so many ways… Just out of Covid lockdown I was in 2 minds whether I should go or not but I was honoured to be invited by #unwomen - to a session on the disproportionate impact that climate has on women globally and the disproportionate lack of womens voices at the table on climate. The role of women is a supremely important subject on sustainability for me - so I went. It was worth it - I heard from some brilliant global voices, attended critical talks and built relationships and collaborations that inform my work today. (To caveat: I have devoted my last 20 years to sustainable development, my PHD proposal is on the lost role of the feminine in climate solutions, I took the train… it was in the UK where I live). Yes that is me with Theresa May… regardless of her politics she is a fierce and eloquent advocate on the role of women…(and honestly on reflection was she the closest thing we have had to stability in recent years 🙄). I will post more on the brilliant voices in the coming days because… frankly - tragically - not much has changed since COP26 on those issues and these voices should have their platform again. I was quoted recently by #DOWJONES INVESTMENTS giving advise to those attending COP28 : “…go and listen to the voices of marginalised communities, indigenous voices, those most impacted by climate… come back and tell those stories!” Anyway my post here is on COP28 is on exactly that…. Who’s voices should we really hear from - who should have the platform and who is stealing limelight to all our detriment? So I urge caution on posts from some of those that are currently at COP28 - All 100,000 of them! My caution… ❓Do they really need to be there? ❓ Do they add to outcome of speeding up the mitigation of catastrophic tipping points? ❓what qualifies them to take a seat at the table? A flight? ❓ are they valuable - or has FOMO, 💰, or their ego driven them to be there? ❓Do they represent your interests or their own? ❓Do they drown out the noise or add to it? ❓ Overall has COP28 become a conference other than the one intended and is the “hive” sustainable thinkers or trend seekers who skew the focus? ❓oh - and lobbying 🤔 Having worked in luxury for 30+ years… we have a phrase for “wannabe’s”…. “They come to the opening of a paper bag…” Has #cop28 become a glittery paperbag with little substance at a time when we can least afford distractions? Per King Charles “real action” is needed to tackle the climate crisis and steer people and nations “away from practices that make our world more dangerous”….. To my mind attending COP28 if you are surplus to requirements is a practice in and of itself that makes our world more dangerous on multiple levels… what do you think ❓🌎 #shechangesclimate #heforshe

Last week marked a pivotal yet controversial moment as the President of COP29 Azerbaijan unveiled the lineup for the organizing committee; the list conspicuously lacked female representation, raising more than a few eyebrows in the global community. Women make up 52% of the world’s population and suffer the most severe impacts of climate change. In fact, women and children are 14x more likely to die in disasters than men, due largely to the amount of time they spend working and caring for their family from inside homes–homes that are, for over 1 billion people globally, not able to withstand extreme climate events and disasters. After the resulting backlash, the COP29 Presidency added 12 women to the organizing committee. While this is a positive first step, more is needed if we are to take seriously the needs and lives of women, not to mention the tremendous value-add of not only including women in climate action work but also embracing them as leaders in the fight to adapt to a changing climate. Across Build Change’s work, women lead, while contributing essential knowledge, skills, and abilities that are extremely valuable in the resilient housing sector. At Build Change, women make up 67% of our Board of Directors and 67% of our Executive Team. And, women’s engagement often results in better financial performance: a microfinance lending solution developed by Build Change that has targeted women borrowers in the Philippines shows women to be consistently reliable, with repayment rates of over 99%. This move by the COP29 Presidency is a call to action for all of us committed to gender equity to make sure that women’s voices are strong and unified as we prepare over the coming year. Learn More: https://bit.ly/4b5psgt  — #BuildChange #COP29 #GenderEquity #EquityforAll #Diversity #Inclusion #EqualRepresentation #ClimateChange #ClimateDisaster #ClimateImpact #ClimateAction The Guardian

😢 Oh dear, I’m clearly still feeling the effects of #BlueMonday. As I have another post about the gloomy start to 2024 with yet another troubling read. 📰 https://lnkd.in/enRFvbxK 😔 Azerbaijan's Cop29 climate committee: 28 men, 0 women. A "regressive" move, indeed. Let's not overlook this glaring lack of representation! 🚫♀️ 🌐 Cop28 in UAE had 63% women on its committee. So why is there zero females on the Cop29 committee? 🤷♀️ 💁♀️ Women make up 50% of the population— in this day and age, it is unacceptable to have zero representation! 🌍 Research shows that countries with more women in leadership positions ratify more environmental treaties and address climate change more effectively (see comments for reference).💪 ♀️Yet women face significant barriers and biases when it comes to getting into the leadership positions 🚫 Research by the European Investment Bank has shown that whilst women believe that having more female leaders will enable us to tackle climate change more effectively, frustratingly, men do not share the same beliefs (see comments for link). 📊 Stats: ➡ EU: 45% of men vs. 60% of women believe in female leaders making a difference and enable us to tackle climate change more effectively ➡China: there is a less of gap 63% of men vs. 69% of women. ➡UK: Sadly the largest gap is in the UK—38% of men vs 61% of women see women leaders as effective in tackling climate change. 🤝 I stand with SHE Changes Climate: She Changes Climate are quoted in the Guardian article and are campaigning for the fossil fuel industry and COP presidency to have a firewall between them to ensure environmental integrity. 🌱💚 #ClimateAction #GenderEquality #EnvironmentalIntegrity

It doesn't seem like 2 years ago I brought together Women in Sustainability Network to discuss our high hopes for #COP26 in Glasgow! . I reached out to prominent women leaders across the world and asked them to record short video messages for us, and we got 14 videos including from Nicola Sturgeon and Katharine Hayhoe! 🙌 . If you weren't there, you can watch the replay and our thoughts here https://bit.ly/3v5UROZ. 👀 . The vibe was positive and optimistic, bringing together 100 amazing women who all want to make a difference and to learn from each other. 🤝 . The outcomes from #COP28 feel like we’re going backwards 🌍😔 . 📉 Fossil fuel lobbyists helped weaken agreements, and over 35 new oil & gas deals were struck during the conference that could outweigh any climate progress made! . 💔 Analyst Kevin Anderson says it's a "death knell" for 1.5C Paris commitment, and lays out the urgent math needed to stay under 1.5 or 2°C warming: 1.      We have 5-8 years at current emissions before blowing 1.5C budget 2.      Even with cuts from 2024, we'd need zero fossils by ~2040 3.      For "well below 2C", need 5%+ cuts per year from 2024 4.      Current pledges lock in high emissions . The climate challenge is now far greater than in 2015 Paris Agreement or 2000 when COP28-level action may have worked. . ❓ So, how do you feel about the outcomes of COP28? Would welcome your perspectives on where things went wrong and what gives you hope going forward!  . #ClimateAction #ClimateCrisis #ClimateLeadership

COP28 review: gender progress in climate action continues to be slow Insightful article by Claudia A. R. De Meulemeester Financial Times group journalist and ESG analyst here in Sustainable Views : https://lnkd.in/eQpFYj7p Thank you for featuring SHE Changes Climate, we definitely have more work to do in 2024. From climate finance to national delegations, women are underrepresented in climate negotiations and conventions, further jeopardising a just transition Climate change and biodiversity loss have a bigger impact on women’s livelihoods. Women tend to be more reliant on natural resources and public services, have less secure land rights and have lower incomes than men, says UN Women, making the integration of gender-inclusive factors in climate policy crucial. The UN agency adds that women’s different priorities and interests should be reflected in climate adaptation, mitigation and loss and damage – yet female views continue to be underrepresented in COP negotiations. At 2022’s COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, women represented 35 per cent of national delegates – a similar proportion to COP26 in Glasgow – and one in five delegation heads at COP27 was a woman, compared to 13 per cent at COP26. Figures for this year are not yet verified, but an initial analysis by Carbon Brief suggests women made up around 38 per cent of national delegations.  At the top of the food chain, only 15 out of 133 world leaders participating in the climate negotiations in Dubai this year were women, however. Civil society participation was hardly better: just 2.3 per cent of attendees from non-governmental organisations at COP27 represented women’s groups, says UN Women. “The COP28 closing was still terribly male dominated. We have more work to do to make the COP process much more inclusive and gender-balanced, including at the top level,” Elise Buckle, co-founder and co-director of SHE Changes Climate, told Sustainable Views. The group highlighted as an example the treatment of Razan Al Mubarak, UN climate change high-level champion at COP28, and Hana AlHashimi, chief climate negotiator for the United Arab Emirates, saying: “Our disappointment extends to the way the COP28 closing plenary was handled by Sultan Al Jaber. We believe that Hana AlHashimi and Razan Al Mubarak have worked both tirelessly and diligently in the preceding months in preparation, and yet no credit or visibility has been given to them.” The “global stocktake” agreed at the end of COP28 UAE makes two references to women and eight to gender. However, for many women’s advocates, this does not go far enough.

One step forward, 10 steps back…

Today we addressed the issue of transformative action for feminist climate justice, assessing the #COP28 outcomes and looking towards #COP29 and #COP30, and coming together to harness the untapped potential of women as transformative agents of change in all sectors of society. It has become urgent to address the planetary emergency for climate, people and nature to stabilize our climate, reverse biodiversity loss and ensure a just and fair energy transition leaving no one behind. Some of the important levers of change we discussed for women, youth and indigenous leaders including: 1. Access to legal support, especially for the environmental defenders who are the frontline of climate impacts and safeguarding nature and land resources including in the Amazon where multinational companies have been making fierce progression to access minerals and fossil fuel resources. 2. Access to funding, once again with only 0.02% of funding from philanthropy going to women-lead initiatives in the environmental sector, there is a big gender gap to address the climate crisis and scale up the solutions already pioneered by so many women and youth leaders around the world. 3. Access to power, in a genuine and authentic way, that is not tokenistic. This is where our inclusion and diversity can support COP Presidency team and country delegations to change the rules of the game right from the start. Access to negotiations room and decision-making power are essential to achieve stronger outcomes in climate negotiations but also at all levels of decision-making in governments, Parliaments, local councils and companies. Thank you María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés and GWL Voices for the kind invitation and Patricia Espinosa Cantellano , Catherine Bertini, Ertharin Cousin for sharing your deep insights. #SHEChangesClimate #GWLVoicesDialogue #WomenInMultilateralism #BalanceForEarth

CHECK OUT MY RECENT ARTICLE ON RURAL WOMEN AND COP 28. Where is the Seat of Rural African Women at COP 28? The Conference of the Parties (COP) is a critical global forum where nations come together to address climate change. However, amid the discussions on policies and strategies, the question arises: where is the seat of rural African women at COP 28? Rural African women are disproportionately affected by the impacts of climate change. From droughts affecting agriculture to changing weather patterns disrupting traditional livelihoods, these women bear a significant burden. Yet, their voices often struggle to find resonance within the corridors of COP meetings. One key challenge is the lack of representation. While COP emphasizes inclusivity, rural African women often face barriers in participating actively. Issues such as limited resources, inadequate education, and cultural constraints contribute to their underrepresentation. As a result, the policies and agreements formulated may not fully consider the nuanced challenges faced by these women. Moreover, the intersectionality of gender and rural life adds another layer to the conversation. Rural women in Africa are not only grappling with climate change but also facing gender-based discrimination. Their roles as primary caregivers and stewards of natural resources make them crucial stakeholders in climate discussions, but their perspectives are often sidelined. To address this disparity, it is essential to create dedicated spaces for the voices of rural African women within COP 28. This includes ensuring that their experiences and insights are integrated into the decision-making processes. Establishing platforms for dialogue, where these women can share their knowledge and participate in shaping policies, is crucial for a more inclusive and effective approach to climate action. Additionally, capacity-building initiatives can empower these women to actively engage in climate discussions. By providing education and resources, COP 28 can contribute to breaking down the barriers that hinder the participation of rural African women. The seat of rural African women at COP 28 should not be symbolic but substantive. It should be a place where their concerns are not just heard but actively incorporated into the strategies devised to combat climate change. Recognizing the vital role these women play in building resilient communities is not only a matter of justice but a strategic imperative for sustainable development. In conclusion, as the world converges for COP 28, it is paramount to acknowledge the specific challenges faced by rural African women and ensure that they have a meaningful seat at the table. Only by embracing their perspectives and experiences can we hope to forge climate policies that are truly equitable and impactful. By Immaculate Akello, a lawyer, climate change activist and green business developer. Email: immaculateconceptor3@gmail.com. Leslie Peter Shelley Taylor