Women are at the forefront of the fight to address the climate crisis. They are effective and inspirational global leaders on the ground, in board rooms, and in government. Women helped craft the historic 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.

While climate change affects all of us, girls and women bear the greatest burden. They are responsible for up to 80% of food production in the global South, and erratic weather patterns resulting from climate change can cause drought. This can put enormous strain on both women and girls, sometimes causing girls to drop out of school to help their mothers. Most distressingly, women and girls account for almost 80% of those displaced by climate-related factors.

However, women are not just victims of climate change and its effects. On the contrary, they are critical to delivering solutions at local and global levels—when they are effectively supported. A 2010 study found that women entrepreneurs may be more engaged in green issues than male entrepreneurs. Take the woman-led Indonesian venture Sustaination. The company sells reusable products, from toiletries to compost equipment, and raises awareness around zero-waste lifestyles. Since its founding in 2018, it has saved more than six million disposable items and 30,000 kilos of plastic a year.

Yet many women face significant obstacles in seeing their ventures succeed. Women operate around 30% of small businesses globally, but the International Finance Corporation estimates that there remains a $300 billion gap in financing for formal women-owned small businesses. More than 70% of women-owned small and growing businesses lack adequate access to financial services—women entrepreneurs do not have the same access as male peers to resources and opportunities to build their ideas into a sustainable, growing business. This includes businesses that are developing goods and services specifically addressing climate change through emissions reductions, adaptation, and building resilience in local communities and across key supply chains. Data from the Global Accelerator Learning Initiative has shown that acceleration efforts sometimes widen the gap between women-led and men-led enterprises, likely due to implicit bias.

Read the full article about women combatting climate change by Richenda Van Leeuwen at The Aspen Institute.