Time to Act: Gender-Responsiveness and the Green Climate Fund

This briefing by the Institute for Security Studies argues that the Green Climate Fund (GCF) represents a critical opportunity to reform international climate finance by addressing systemic biases toward large-scale mitigation and a lack of gender-responsiveness. The authors emphasize that poor rural women, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, are disproportionately affected by climate change but remain underfunded due to structural discrimination and a preference for high-tech projects over community-level initiatives.

• The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is distinguished from previous international climate finance mechanisms by being the first to integrate gender considerations from its inception and aiming to balance funding between adaptation and mitigation.
• International climate finance has historically suffered from two primary flaws: a strong preference for large-scale mitigation projects and a failure to systematically incorporate gender-responsiveness in policies and implementation.
• Poor rural women engaged in food security and agricultural production are the most impacted by climate change due to limited access to credit, land, water, electricity, information, and decision-making, despite possessing significant knowledge and innovation in coping with weather variability.
• Africa is identified as the region most vulnerable to climate change, with adaptation needs estimated at US$20-30 billion annually over the next twenty years. However, in 2011, only US$350 million of the US$10 billion in globally approved adaptation funding went to Africa, with only US$130 million actually disbursed, much of which failed to reach women.
• The GCF's governing body lacks gender balance, with only 8 women out of 48 members on the board. Furthermore, the first board meeting focused on administrative issues, delaying critical discussions on stakeholder participation and operational modalities.

APA

Tarpo, C., & Walker, T. (n.d.). Time to Act: Gender-Responsiveness and the Green Climate Fund. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.org/iss-today/time-to-act-gender-responsiveness-and-the-green-climate-fund

Chicago

Tarpo, Catarina, and Timothy Walker. Time to Act: Gender-Responsiveness and the Green Climate Fund. Institute for Security Studies, n.d. https://issafrica.org/iss-today/time-to-act-gender-responsiveness-and-the-green-climate-fund.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Tarpo |first1=Catarina |last2=Walker |first2=Timothy |title=Time to Act: Gender-Responsiveness and the Green Climate Fund |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |url=https://issafrica.org/iss-today/time-to-act-gender-responsiveness-and-the-green-climate-fund |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{tarpondtime, author = {Tarpo, Catarina and Walker, Timothy}, title = {{Time to Act: Gender-Responsiveness and the Green Climate Fund}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, url = {https://issafrica.org/iss-today/time-to-act-gender-responsiveness-and-the-green-climate-fund}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }