How Social Equity Can Accelerate Climate Action

More than 30 women were chosen for this project through a global application process, including sustainability, energy and resilience experts, analysts and researchers at multinational corporations, consultancies, universities, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies.

They were separated into six working groups for the research and development. Benecomms, a women-owned marketing and public relations firm and a lead founder of WiCT+, orchestrated the effort.

A key outcome of the research was a survey of WiCT+ members that assessed the importance of climate risk, climate opportunity and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) reporting, along with the intersections of gender equity and corporate climate action, and gender equity and professional beliefs. The results of this survey are highlighted in the report.

Connecting Gender Equity and Climate Action

The report shows how equity and climate risk are interrelated, that there is a need for gender-specific data, and that women must be enabled to accelerate climate action. This includes allocating capital for more investments in women-driven climate initiatives.

The TECFD working group found that climate change disproportionately impacts women due to cultural, educational, and resource inequities. Climate change impacts community cohesion, supply chain and corporate resilience.

“In short, gender inequity magnifies climate risk,” according to Viverette.

Conversely, women’s influence over energy use, food production, transportation, and other avenues offer immense opportunities for emissions reductions and resilience building – illustrating how climate solutions that increase gender equity produce triple bottom line impacts.

“Until businesses recognize gender and social equity as a critical element to accelerate climate action, progress towards net zero and climate resilience will be impeded and opportunities left unrealized,” Viverette said.

The report also highlights how traditional approaches to funding and scaling women-led solutions may not work due to systemic challenges facing women, ranging from unequal access to resources and education to lack of mentorship and empowerment. Women remain unrepresented in capital allocation positions, which is a vital component in how companies, governments, and individuals approach solutions to tackle climate risks.

According to the report, women also generally earn less than men and claim fewer benefits during their lifetimes; a situation that will only worsen as climate change increases health vulnerabilities.

“Unless addressed, this will mean increased risk for women, their families, and their communities,” Slodounik said.

Studies have shown that women leaders play a critical role in the global workforce by helping to promote diversity, equality, and a more balanced approach to employees’ work and personal lives. But while women have been advancing towards employment equity in recent years, they’ve lost momentum amid the COVID-19 pandemic. As reported by McKinsey, women accounted for 54 percent of overall job losses during the pandemic, despite only making up 39 percent of global employment. This disparity can be attributed in part to women on average earning less than men and the additional caretaking and household responsibilities that tend to be held by women.

While women in low-income countries are subject to higher climate vulnerability, climate gender equity disparities persist globally. As the United States celebrates the Inflation Reduction Act as a climate victory, it does so without key provisions to improve the resilience of women and children—namely universal pre-kindergarten, lower childcare costs, paid family and sick leave and the enhanced child tax credit. Benefits focused on enhancing gender equity have been routinely cut from proposed legislation.

“Diversity at the top of the value chain will only help in climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts,” Slodounik said.

Turning Results into Progress

“The report findings illustrate that gender equity is not just “good to have” but is in fact “a must have” to accelerate equitable climate action,” said Wasley, adding that the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has made the urgency for climate action “extremely clear.”

According to Wasley, the next step is to leverage the research gathered and the TECFD framework developed to better understand WSP Global’s baseline for justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in the context of climate action.

“With this baseline, we will be able to improve and accelerate our company’s social equity and climate action,” Wasley said.

UN Climate Change Conference (Nov. 6-18)

WSP is all in for the United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference (COP27) this year in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. The firm’s delegation is working in close collaboration with the UN Climate Champions team and numerous partners, including the International Coalition for Sustainable Infrastructure, Resilience Rising, Resilience First, the Coalition for Climate Resilient Investment and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure.

WSP is helping shape the discourse and presenting on a wide range of topics — the future of funding the net-zero transition, realizing infrastructure’s resilience dividend, mainstreaming nature-based solutions and integrating green infrastructure into grey — and supporting the Resilience Breakthroughs implementation labs across the spectrum of impact systems: food & agriculture, water & nature, human settlements, oceans and infrastructure.

Learn more about how WSP is activating its engagement at COP27, hybrid events you can register to attend, and the distinct suite of capabilities that make WSP a leader in climate, resilience & sustainability: https://www.wsp.com/en-us/campaigns/cop27

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