Blended Finance and the Gender-Energy Nexus

This stocktaking report by the Climate Policy Initiative and Convergence examines the intersection of blended finance, gender equality, and the energy transition in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs). It analyzes market trends, identifies systemic barriers to gender-responsive climate finance, and provides case studies of financial vehicles that integrate gender outcomes into clean energy projects.

• Gender-responsive climate blended finance is significantly underrepresented compared to the broader blended finance market. Only 22% of climate blended finance deals in Convergence’s Historical Deals Database (HDD) were gender-responsive, whereas 31% of all blended finance deals overall met this criteria.
• Within the energy sector, there is a stark divide in gender-responsiveness between off-grid and on-grid projects. Off-grid renewable energy (RE) projects are more likely to be gender-responsive (28%) than on-grid projects (11%), largely because off-grid solutions often target household energy needs where women are primary beneficiaries.
• The energy sector faces deep structural gender imbalances, particularly in leadership and technical roles. Women hold less than 11% of leadership roles in renewables and only 32% of total jobs in the sector globally, while their representation in formally contracted construction work ranges from only 1% to 6%.
• Public investors, specifically Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) and Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), are the primary drivers of gender-responsive climate finance. The Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank (FMO) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) are the top two public investors by deal count.
• Concessional debt and equity are the most common instruments used to promote gender outcomes, appearing in 86% of gender-responsive climate blended deals. Technical Assistance (TA) is also frequently used (39% of transactions) to build capacity and integrate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles.
• There is an emerging opportunity to monetize gender co-benefits through carbon markets. The W+ Standard, developed by WOCAN and integrated into Verra’s Verified Carbon Standard, allows projects to sell Voluntary Carbon Units at premium prices if they deliver quantifiable benefits to women.
• The report identifies several systemic challenges to scaling gender-responsive finance, including a lack of standardized metrics, the difficulty of measuring long-term transformative outcomes versus short-term outputs, and the existence of 'silos' between gender-lens investors and climate investors.
• Case studies demonstrate that combining Technical Assistance (TA) with financial incentives, such as KPI-linked loans that reduce interest rates upon meeting gender targets, is more effective than using either tool in isolation.

APA

Bery, A., Ivory, R., Sawant, I., Weinstein-Wright, I., Wallock, W., Byrd, R., Olutoke, J., & Wang, Y. (2024). Blended Finance and the Gender-Energy Nexus. Climate Policy Initiative. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/CC-Facility_Learning-Hub_Stocktaking-Report.pdf

Chicago

Bery, Ayesha, Robin Ivory, Ishwari Sawant, Ilsa Weinstein-Wright, William Wallock, Rosaly Byrd, Jide Olutoke, and Yihan Wang. Blended Finance and the Gender-Energy Nexus. Climate Policy Initiative, 2024. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/CC-Facility_Learning-Hub_Stocktaking-Report.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{bery2024blended, author = {Bery, Ayesha and Ivory, Robin and Sawant, Ishwari and Weinstein-Wright, Ilsa and Wallock, William and Byrd, Rosaly and Olutoke, Jide and Wang, Yihan}, title = {{Blended Finance and the Gender-Energy Nexus}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2024}, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/CC-Facility_Learning-Hub_Stocktaking-Report.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }