IWD 2025: NDCs, SDGs, and the intersection of climate change and gender equality
Every year on 8 March, the world comes together to celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD), dedicated to honouring the achievements of women who work to dismantle the barriers to women’s rights and equal participation in all areas of society.
But despite being celebrated in some form for more than a century, the quest for a world where differences are truly valued, and equality is genuinely ensured, remains ongoing.
This journey is even more pertinent today given the array of global challenges we face, such as climate change, that often disproportionately affect people, particularly women, in the least-developed countries (LDCs) and small island developing states (SIDS).
Against this backdrop, the international theme for this year’s IWD is “Accelerate Action”, calling for collective efforts to hasten progress towards gender equality.
The link between climate change and gender equality is undeniable, impacting essentials such as food, shelter, and livelihoods.
It’s crucial that national climate policies, such as the nationally determined contributions (NDCs), incorporate gender-responsive actions to advance gender equality in this era of climate vulnerability.
NDCs at national and international level
The Paris Agreement is aimed at holding the global average temperature below 2°C above pre-industrial periods and enhancing adaptation capacity through climate-resilient development.
In achieving the long-term temperature goal, countries are obliged to submit NDCs, setting their respective mitigation and adaptation goals.
It’s a bottom-up approach and a continuing document of national commitment. Countries need to maintain a progression in their successive NDCs regarding the measures taken or goals set.
NDCs include the number of required finances estimated by the governments in achieving their commitments in different sectors. Therefore, it’s crucial in accelerating climate actions both at the national and international level.
With the membership of 195 countries, NDCs submitted under the Paris Agreement reflect a global commitment towards climate change, in which women are considered an important section of society to build climate resilience.
NDCs in acknowledging gender-responsive climate action
The 2024 NDC Synthesis Report shows that 66% of countries prioritised the intrinsic relationship between the national initiatives for climate mitigation and development preference, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Regarding domestic planning and implementation processes, many of these countries organised gender-sensitive consultations.
The report reflects an increasing recognition of gender-responsive measures to increase the efficiency of climate action. For example, 82% of countries included gender-related information in their NDCs.
Among those, 32% have, for the first time, provided information relating to gender in their NDCs, which is an indication of the gender sensitivity in climate policymaking.
Read more: Putting women front and centre in the UN’s Loss and Damage Fund
This is a brief picture of how national climate policies are transitioning to gender responsiveness. The number of countries approaching gender-responsive climate policy is increasing, but remains below satisfactory levels.
Considering the disproportionate impacts of climate change faced by women in the LDCs and SIDS, almost all the reported NDCs should have a gender mention.
Further, the report shows that only 28% of the countries that mentioned gender in their earlier NDCs have elaborated the aspects of it.
Upon reading the report, it can be said that countries need to detail gender-oriented specific action in their NDCs. Merely mentioning it isn’t sufficient if the world intends to achieve the long-term temperature goal of the Paris Agreement.
SDGs and gender-responsive climate policies
The SDGs is a plan of action adopted at the 2015 United Nations Sustainable Development Summit. Its aim is to transform the planet for a sustainable future.
Several SDGs – gender equality, no poverty, zero hunger, good health, and climate action – are closely connected with the negative impacts of climate change. In this regard, national climate policies have a greater impact in accelerating the progression of those SDGs.
UN Women has recently published a report, Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: The Gender Snapshot 2024, highlighting the trends of gender equality.
The report suggests six points of actions as a driving force towards achieving the SDGs. It affirms that gender-responsive climate policy and redistributing resources for attaining climate resilience is essential to gender equality.
Existing gender inequality within society marginalises women when climate-induced disasters hit. Loss of habitat and biodiversity may affect other aspects of their life – for instance, the impacts on their reproductive health, and hunger or poverty.
The report shows that about 236 million women may face food insecurity due to climate change in future.
Read more: More women in leadership roles needed to address climate crisis
A gender-responsive climate policy, through NDCs, is a much-needed step towards achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement and the SDGs, including gender equality.
Due in part to the COVID crisis, many countries could not achieve the projected progression of the SDGs. In this scenario, the IWD 2025 rightly calls for a campaign to “Accelerate Action” for gender equality, which is the nucleus of several SDGs.
Countries should revisit their NDCs for such an inclusive climate policy that will uphold the core value of this year’s IWD, and help dismantle the barriers to opportunities for women.
Let us march forward to “Accelerate Action” in building an equitable and climate-resilient world for women.
