Women rarely lead global climate institutions — Climate Home News
Women remain underrepresented in leadership positions in global climate and environmental governance, although they are actively involved in this work. This is stated in a GWL Voices report cited by Climate Home News. The authors of the commentary — GWL Voices founder and former Argentine foreign minister Susana Malcorra and former Irish president and ex-UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson — called the climate crisis also a governance crisis.
Leadership positions are predominantly held by men
According to GWL Voices, three-quarters of the presidents of UN COP climate conferences over more than 30 years of their holding have been men. Under the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, women have chaired conferences of the parties only three times out of 17 since 1997.
The authors note that the gender imbalance extends to other important positions, including country delegation members, heads of delegations, national focal points and members of conference-of-the-parties bureaus. The report also states that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has not appointed a woman as chair even once in nearly four decades of work.
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Inequality in the distribution of roles
At the same time, women make up 90% of national gender focal points under the biodiversity and climate change conventions. Malcorra and Robinson believe this points to a horizontal gender division: women are more often involved in gender equality issues but are less often allowed to make strategic decisions.
According to the “Women in Politics 2026” map, prepared by UN Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the largest share of women ministers worldwide is in ministries for women and gender equality — 90% — as well as family and children — 73%. By contrast, women account for 18% in economy ministries, 29% in foreign affairs ministries and 12% in energy ministries.
Calls for gender parity
The authors refer to studies linking women’s leadership to greater support for environmental protection, the ratification of environmental treaties and stricter climate policy. After COP30, where the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change adopted a nine-year plan to integrate gender equality into climate governance and the implementation of decisions, GWL Voices called for ensuring gender parity in climate bodies, involving Indigenous women in policy development, transparently tracking gender-responsive climate finance and strengthening accountability for women-led initiatives.
