In the aftermath of COP30, Chen Ly, a second year PhD student at Imperial’s Centre for Environmental Policy on the SSCP-Doctoral Training Partnership, examines what the new COP30 Gender Action Plan means for action on climate change. Her research explores the intersection of social justice and global environmental governance, with a focus on gender equity. She is supervised by Dr Caroline Howe.
Climate change does not affect all people equally, and our responses cannot ignore that reality. Around the world, women and girls – especially those in low-income countries, rural areas and Indigenous communities – face disproportionate risks from climate breakdown. They experience greater food and water insecurity, heightened exposure to climate-related health threats, increased unpaid care demands and greater vulnerability to gender-based violence during climate disasters. These inequalities are not biological. They are social and political, rooted in long histories of exclusion from land, resources and decision-making.
This gendered dimension of environmental harm is not new. For decades, women have been at the forefront of environmental defence. The Chipko movement in India mobilised rural women to protect forests essential for their livelihoods. Across Latin America and Africa, women environmental defenders continue to resist mining, logging and land grabs despite facing criminalisation and violence. Indigenous women play central roles in biodiversity protection and climate adaptation. Their leadership demonstrates that women and marginalised groups are not victims to be protected – they are key actors in building climate resilience.
Yet global institutions have often lagged behind this reality. Gender first entered intergovernmental environmental politics at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, which acknowledged women’s essential role in sustainable development. Since then, the UN climate and biodiversity regimes have developed gender action plans and work programmes, and the Sustainable Development Goals placed gender equality at the centre of global commitments. The Paris Agreement further recognised that climate action must respect human rights and promote gender equality.
Negotiating a new Gender Action Plan
This makes the outcome of COP30 in Belém particularly significant. Countries arrived with the task of agreeing on a new Gender Action Plan (GAP) to guide gender-responsive climate action for the next decade. The GAP is the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change’s central tool for ensuring that climate policies on mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology and capacity-building work for everyone – especially those whose lives are already being reshaped by climate impacts.
Negotiations, however, were far from smooth. A small group of more conservative countries sought to redefine “gender” as “biological sex”, which would have excluded trans and non-binary people and reversed decades of established UN language. Advocates warned that narrowing the definition would weaken the UN’s ability to address the realities of climate vulnerability and reflect lived experiences on the ground.
Despite these pressures, parties ultimately reached agreement on a new draft Gender Action Plan. It is a hard-won and important step forward. The plan commits countries to using sex-disaggregated data and gender analysis in climate decision-making, strengthening coordination across institutions and integrating gender into national climate policies, planning and reporting. It also acknowledges that experiences of climate change are shaped by multiple dimensions of inequality, including race, disability and age: an essential recognition for designing equitable climate responses.
However, the GAP also reflects the political constraints of the moment. It omits dedicated financing commitments, despite strong calls from developing countries and organisations such as UN Women. Still, by maintaining inclusive gender language and reinforcing accountability mechanisms, negotiators prevented significant backsliding and safeguarded a foundation for future progress.
From paper to practice
The need for an ambitious plan cannot be overstated. Climate change does not pause for political disagreements. Every year of insufficient action deepens inequalities, erodes livelihoods and undermines human rights. Without strong gender-responsive frameworks, climate policies risk reproducing the very injustices they aim to address. Evidence consistently shows that climate solutions are more effective when they recognise gendered differences in exposure, labour, resource access and leadership roles.
If implemented robustly, the new GAP can help ensure that women farmers and Indigenous communities receive support for climate-resilient agriculture; that disaster responses include protection from gender-based violence; that climate finance reaches grassroots organisations already leading adaptation efforts; and that young women and gender-diverse people have meaningful roles in decision-making. These provisions are not “add-ons” – they are central to making climate policy work on the ground.
But implementation will not happen automatically. It requires political will, adequate resources and institutional capacity. It also requires governments to listen to those most affected by climate change, and who have often been sidelined in international negotiations: women, Indigenous communities, frontline workers and gender-diverse people. Their knowledge and experience are essential for designing effective, equitable climate responses.
Ultimately, the significance of the COP30 Gender Action Plan lies not only in what it includes, but in what it protects. At a time of rising anti-gender politics globally, the agreement maintains inclusive language, reinforces commitments to human rights and preserves a pathway towards more just climate action.
The work ahead remains substantial. The GAP must move from paper to practice: into national implementation, cross-ministry coordination, climate finance architecture and monitoring systems that track progress toward equality. A climate-just future depends on recognising that women and gender-diverse people are not peripheral to climate action – they are central to delivering adaptation, resilience and sustainable solutions.
The agreement in Belém is a meaningful step forward. But its true impact will depend on the next decade of action.
