november 2023
briefing note
No climate justice without gender justice: the case for feminist international climate finance THE URGENCY OF FEMINIST CLIMATE FINANCE The devastating impacts of climate change on people and the planet are not gender-neutral. Those who have contributed the least to climate change are paying the highest cost. Gender-transformative climate finance is central to a feminist approach to climate justice. The financial contributions of Canada and other rich countries are critically important for low-income countries who have least contributed to the climate emergency. Their financial needs are great and growing.
Low-income countries face disproportionately worsening economic situations, livelihoods are threatened and public services are strained. Additionally, current modalities of climate finance, which is mostly given out in loans, are pushing already heavily indebted countries further into the red. The debt crisis for low-income countries is worsening and has been since before the Covid-19 pandemic.1 Responding to extreme weather events can cost between 5% and 7% of annual GDP, in addition to dealing with pandemic response, migration, conflict and biodiversity loss, which leaves no resources for preventive actions2.
Imam Latif, pictured, uses floodwater for cooking and other chores during the massive flooding in Pakistan. Credit: Ingenious Captures/Oxfam
OXFAM CANADA/OXFAM QUEBEC BRIEFING No climate justice without gender justice: the case for feminist international climate finance
RESOURCE MOBILIZATION FOR CLIMATE ACTION The climate crisis can be defined by a triple inequality – inequality of losses, emissions and capacity to finance. Losses and damage are expected to be greatest in parts of the world that have least contributed to the emergency, whereas those countries who have the greatest financial resources to contribute to climate solution are also less vulnerable to impacts and bear more responsibility for causing the crisis.3 Add these inequalities to the existing debt load of low-income countries, and there is little to no fiscal space available to provide public services and address the climate emergency. Canada’s recent announcement at CARICOM to pause debt repayments on new loans when disaster strikes is welcome.4 However, it should also apply to existing debt and all future support from Canada should be in the form of grants. Canada continues to reap enormous wealth from a fossil-fuel driven capitalist economy, while contributing some of the world’s highest percapita carbon emissions. Mobilizing the scale of public resources required to survive the climate emergency will need a recognition of the climate debt that rich polluters owe to low-income countries and vulnerable populations. A variety of proposals for innovative climate finance have been on the table for some time, including progressive tax measures like a windfall profits tax on the oil and gas industry. Oil and gas companies in Canada are reaping extreme profits due to spiking global energy prices. An estimated $22 billion in additional public revenue could be raise for climate action if the federal government were to adopt a wealth tax, a corporate income tax hike and a windfall profits tax5. Recent analysis from Oxfam and Action Aid using Forbes’ Global 2000 ranking found that the world’s biggest corporations — including energy, oil and gas corporations — made $1.08 trillion in windfall profits in 2021 and $1.09 trillion in 2022, an increase of 89 per cent over the previous four-year average6. The IMF has also recently shown that corporations are exploiting the cost of living and inflation crisis to boost profit margins7. Taxing windfall profits globally could generate between $523 billion and $941 billion for 2021 and 2022, respectively. Billions of additional dollars to support climate action needs are available with the right tax reforms.
What is a Feminist Approach and why do we need one? Harms from climate-induced disasters are not experienced equally by everyone. Women and girls, especially those living in poverty, have less access to resources and in many contexts are excluded from virtually all of the key decision-making processes. Women’s rights and voices are usually left out or disregarded in climate-related policy-making processes, resulting in climate solutions that are patriarchal and fail to address women’s aspirations and priorities. Taking a feminist approach to climate justice is about challenging the economic, social and political systems that have created the climate crisis and holding countries, companies and individuals accountable for their climate commitments. A feminist approach is about empowering women and other vulnerable peoples to strengthen their resilience to climate change, while advancing their leadership in shaping solutions and ensuring climate policies are inclusive and fair. Respecting and valuing the perspectives, knowledge and lived experiences of diverse groups is key to building a deeper understanding of the challenges climate change presents and developing possible solutions. Honouring the context and complexities faced by diverse groups is also critical to building partnerships or supporting groups working to advance climate justice in their communities. Collaborative efforts based on respect, understanding and a commitment to positive, transformative change are central to a feminist approach to gender and climate justice. SOURCE: Oxfam Canada Feminist Climate Justice Toolkit https://www.oxfam.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/ Oxfam-Gender-Climate-Toolkit-web-version.pdf
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OXFAM CANADA/OXFAM QUEBEC BRIEFING No climate justice without gender justice: the case for feminist international climate finance
Camino Verde supports Indigenous women like María Elena Maquín, pictured, who play a role in a just economic transition. Credit: Photo: Cristina Chiquín/Oxfam
Women leading mitigation efforts on the Camino Verde project in Guatemala The region of Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, has one of the worst poverty rates in all of Latin America, as eight out of ten people live in extreme poverty – predominantly Indigenous Maya Q’eqchi’ and Pocomchi’ women and youth. Women and youth, who were overrepresented in unemployment rates, identified that small-scale sustainable business is key to move away from reliance on extractive industries or export economies in favour of clean energy. Furthermore, these communities are demanding greater support for activities focused on the recovery of traditional Indigenous knowledge and “nature-based solutions” as defined by them.
Oxfam is supporting the creation of a green economy in Alta Verapaz, led by smallscale enterprises. Camino Verde – “the green way” is implemented with five local partner organizations, funding the development of sustainable business practices for smallscale enterprises headed by Indigenous women and youth. This includes supplying goods and assets like solar dryers for grains and spices, commercial grain roasters, water collection equipment, and greenhouses. Climate change adaptation strategies and practices include clean technology, waste management, composting beds, organic fertilizers and heritage
seed conversation. In addition to running green businesses that mitigate climate change, Maya Q’eqchi’ and Pocomchi’ women are also attending advocacy schools. The Women’s Rights and Political Influencing School, led by local partner, ASOMTEVI, offers a space where Indigenous women and youth can develop their leadership skills and learn how to organize around their economic and political rights. Sustainable green jobs, including for women, that respect indigenous knowledge, are but one example of climate solutions that reduce emissions while supporting access to clean energy and work for women at the very grassroots.
Source: https://www.oxfam.ca/story/camino-verde/
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OXFAM CANADA/OXFAM QUEBEC BRIEFING No climate justice without gender justice: the case for feminist international climate finance
Tikeshwori Malla (27) and Ganga Devi Malla (53) address climate resilience with the members of Farmer Field School in a village in Jorayal Rural Municipality, Nepal. Credit: Kishor Sharma / Oxfam
GENDER EQUALITY CONSIDERATIONS Oxfam’s Climate Finance Shadow Report 2023 estimates that only one third of international climate finance for low- and middle-income countries has any kind of gender equality outcomes reflected in their project design. Of this already slim proportion, a mere 2.9% of the funding went into projects where gender equality was the principal objective. To date, most climate action projects simply fail to prioritize the specific needs of women and girls or ignore the role of women’s leadership in climate solutions. According to a recent analysis of the OECD DAC, Canada scores well on integrating gender equality into climate initiatives. Canada has the highest share of official development assistance (ODA) for climate integrating gender equality objectives (98%), followed by Iceland (92%), Sweden (88%) and Ireland (87%).8 “Integrating gender” refers to initiatives where gender outcomes are considered or mainstreamed, but where advancing gender equality is not the sole principal purpose of the project. However, preliminary evidence suggests that while Canada has increased its focus on gender equality in its 2021/22 to 2025/26 climate pledge, less than 1% of all gender specific coding addresses gender transformative initiatives, generally considered to be necessary for genuine impact on women’s rights and gender equality9. For all DAC members it was even lower, where only 0.04% of climate related aid integrates gender equality as a “principal purpose”. To make matters worse, very little climate finance reaches women’s organizations at the grassroots level.
Donors, multilateral development banks and UN agencies are failing to prioritize locally-led climate action, despite their publicly stated commitments to do so. Women’s rights organizations, especially those organizing at the grassroots in low-income countries, already understand which climate solutions can be gender transformative – but lack the power and resources to implement them. They have lived experience of what works, and the ingenuity, commitment and resolve to make change happen. Putting women’s rights and gender justice at the heart of climate interventions will not only make them more equitable and lasting, but also more successful.10
THE SOLUTION Adding to the previously mentioned progressive tax measures, governments, civil society and businesses need to recognize the significant contribution that women make in coping with climate disasters — be they as care workers, farmers, migrants, land defenders or advocates against gender-based violence. Women need to be at the centre of all adaptation and mitigation efforts because otherwise these initiatives will fail or have limited impact. Directing climate financing to women and gender diverse people, and for gender equality outcomes, is a relatively easy and transformational step that donors can make — fast — in order to tackle gender inequality and climate change. In doing so, this also requires challenging structural inequality and patriarchal systems that have dominated climate finance. Governments, financial institutions, and private actors must all do their fair share and ensure that civil society, Indigenous peoples and women’s movements lead the charge.
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OXFAM CANADA/OXFAM QUEBEC BRIEFING No climate justice without gender justice: the case for feminist international climate finance
RECOMMENDATIONS Finance for gender equality: 1. Support feminist climate action by bringing a stronger gender equity lens to the
implementation of Canada’s climate funding and ensure greater investments in principal purpose gender equality climate finance (GE-3 DAC marker) with a target of 15%;
2. Systematically monitor, evaluate and report publicly on how Canada’s global climate change adaptation and mitigation initiatives are supporting the poorest and most vulnerable, and promoting gender equality;
Finance as fairness: 3. Continue to support the efforts of low-income countries and vulnerable populations through
climate finance by increasing our contributions in the form of grants, not loans, and cancelling unsustainable debts;
4. Support women’s rights organizations working for climate solutions globally and advocate for a stronger focus on gender equality and the most vulnerable in multilateral climate finance mechanisms and tools;
5. Commit to a target of 15% of Canada’s climate finance for women’s rights organizations, similar to GAC guidelines for its overall international assistance funding to civil society organizations;
Finance for loss and damage: 6. Use diplomacy to ensure progress on gender, human rights and community access with the
new loss and damage fund established under the UNFCCC. Ensure an explicit gender lens is applied to ensure inequality is reduced, not exacerbated. Ensure that loss and damage funding is accessible to communities by establishing a community direct access window for sub-national and local actors, in particular affected communities, women, youth, Indigenous Peoples, people living with disability, and civil society organizations working directly with them for both rapid-response and addressing slow-onset impacts;
7. Make a significant pledge to the fund, in line with Canada’s fair share, and encourage other donors to do likewise. This must be additional to existing international climate finance and other foreign aid commitments;
Finance through fairer taxation: 8. Mobilize public finance for global climate action that does not exacerbate but rather eliminates
inequality, through a wealth tax, a windfall profits tax and other progressive taxation measures. Specifically, tax the windfall profits of oil and gas sectors to generate the resources for a sustainable transition and increased mitigation ambition, as well as climate finance in line with Canada’s fair share.
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OXFAM CANADA/OXFAM QUEBEC BRIEFING No climate justice without gender justice: the case for feminist international climate finance
Endnotes 1 Crotti, I. and I. Fresnillo. Eurodad (2021). Retrieved November 2 2023, from: https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/ eurodad/pages/2510/attachments/original/1634117579/climate-and-debt-faqs-EN-final.pdf?1634117579 2 Songwe, V. and R. Aboneaaj. Center for Global Development (2021) Retrieved November 2 2023 from: https://www. cgdev.org/publication/ambitious-ida-decade-crisis?utm_source=20230718&utm_medium=cgd_email&utm_ campaign=cgd_weekly 3 World Inequality Lab (2023). Climate and Inequality Report 2023: Fair taxes for a sustainable future in the Global South. Retrieved November 2 2023 from: https://wid.world/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/CBV2023ClimateInequalityReport-1.pdf 4 D. Thurton. (2023, October 18). Canada offers to pause debt repayments for countries hit by natural disasters. CBC. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-caricom-debt-natural-disasters-climate-1.7000644 5 Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. (2022). Alternative Federal Budget 2023. Retrieved November 2 2023 from: https://www.taxfairness.ca/en/resources/news-views/how-budget-2023-can-make-our-taxes-fairer 6 Oxfam Great Britain. (6 July 2023). Corporate Windfall Profits Rocket to $1 Trillion a Year. Retrieved November 2 2023 from: https://www.oxfam.org.uk/mc/9ano9s/ 7 S. Goldstein. (27 June 2023). ‘Greedflation’: IMF puts blame for rise in prices on corporate greed. Market Watch. Retrieved November 2 2023 from: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/imf-puts-blame-on-greedflation-for-risein-prices-5b565289 8 OECD Gender Equality Perspectives Series. (March 2022). Development finance for gender responsive climate action. Retrieved 2 November 2023 from: https://www.oecd.org/dac/development-finance-gender-climate-action.pdf 9 B. Tomlinson. (2023). Canadian Coalition for Climate Change and Development: Briefing Note 7 Gender Equality. Retrieved 2 November 2023 from: http://aidwatchcanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Briefing-Note-7Gender-Equality.pdf 10 UNFCCC. (8 March 2023). Five reason why climate action needs women. Retrieved 2 November 2023 from: https:// unfccc.int/news/five-reasons-why-climate-action-needs-women.
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