‘Climate Investment Funds’, Briefs on Gender and Climate Funds

According to this brief, the current pledge to invest 80 per cent of Climate Investment Funds (CIFs) in male-dominated formal-economy work sectors, energy and transportation may perpetuate existing gender imbalances in climate change funding. For CIFs to have a positive impact on gender issues, this document recommends that urgent action be taken while these funds are in their early stages.

Comparing the CIFs’ two main components – the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) and the Strategic Climate Fund (SCF) – the brief notes that the SCF offers more in prioritising the needs of poorer people. While the CTF invests in middle-income country and regional low carbon development programmes, the SCF pilots new development approaches, addressing local livelihood issues, the maintenance and enhancement of carbon-rich natural ecosystems, and financing for climate change mitigation and adaptation in low-income country programmes. The SCF programmes have more potential to impact poor men and women who heavily depend on forest biodiversity.

Suggestions for CIFs moving forward include:

• advocating gender-driven agenda considerations with the CIFs’ expert groups, since it is they who are responsible for making recommendations on country selections and pilot programmes;
  
• altering the current focus from large-scale to small-scale mitigation and adaptation projects, where women play key roles;
• improving women’s representation within the governance structure of CIFs, in which women are currently only nominally represented; and 
  
• presenting gender-relevant questionnaires to associated banks to assist their monitoring and evaluation efforts.