Gender-responsive energy transition
by Emmaqulate Kemunto Climate change as a threat multiplier Myth: Climate change affects everyone equally. Climate change affects different people differently, owing to pre-existing vulnerabilities and other socio-cultural factors. Women’s vulnerability to climate change impact is particularly higher because of pre-existing social, economic, cultural, and institutional marginalisation. For instance, 70% of the people living below the poverty line are women. Climate change is therefore a threat multiplier for populations with pre-existing vulnerabilities. These pre-existing disadvantages hinder women’s adaptive capacity to climate change. For this reason, one-foot-fits-all climate action which is blind to pre-existing gender gaps, marginalisation, and discrimination is biased and risks further perpetuating these inequalities. Therefore, climate action, including energy transition, must be gender-sensitive, gender-responsive, and human rights-based. Energy transition as climate action Two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions…