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Empowering women for effective climate change adaptation - the role of the private sector

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Authors: Lisa Scholz, Nilufar Umarova

Introduction

Private sector funds are essential both for closing the adaptation finance gap, which is currently estimated at USD 194-366 billion per year (UNEP 2023), and for enabling communities worldwide to adapt to the devastating impacts of climate change. As with all financing, the volume is not the only important factor, but also the extent to which the funds’ impact can be maximized.

Taking a gender-responsive approach when designing adaptation products and services or when investing in the adaptation space, is a sure way to increase impact and capitalize on multiple other developmental benefits along the way. While still nascent, gender in the context of private sector solutions to climate change adaptation is a field of growing interest in the international community. While women are often more vulnerable to the effects of climate change than men, their direct experiences with these impacts also place them in a pivotal role to act as agents of change.

This brief has been compiled from a series of interviews that the Private Adaptation Finance Project at GIZ has conducted with several partner organizations, complemented by desk research. The goal is to showcase the different ways in which the private sector can contribute to empowering women to act as change-makers for climate change adaptation. While many of our partners are active in Africa and South Asia, the research outcomes may apply to other regional and cultural contexts as well.

After briefly summarizing the specific climate change vulnerabilities of women, this brief will explore three major themes in the private sector context – firstly, how can Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) help empower women in their operations, through their products and services, and along their value chains? Secondly, how can the special role that female entrepreneurs play in this context be amplified? And thirdly, how can investors leverage their position in the ecosystem to foster women’s role in climate change adaptation?