The Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights participated in the expert group meeting (EGM) convened by UN Women to inform the next edition of Progress of the World’s Women that took place over two days on 11-12 July.

The EGM meeting brought together leading feminist researchers and experts to discuss the idea of feminist climate justice, to deepen the initial thinking that we have already done on a previously shared concept note, and to explore its potential operationalisation/application to gender-responsive climate action, with a particular focus on food systems/agriculture.

This EGM did not only inform the final Progress of the World’s Women report, which will be launched in early 2025, but also a paper to be launched at the next UNFCCC COP 28 which will lay out the Feminist Climate Justice conceptual framework. The aim for this paper is to be a ‘first installment’ of the longer-term work of UN Women to communicate its approach on the topic of climate change and gender, to invite feedback and inputs from partners and allies, and to build their networks. By launching this initial paper at COP 28, UN Women aims to open up space for gender equality advocates to discuss their visions for feminist climate justice.

The EGM was organized with chairs that detonated the conversation among participants and by short, written pieces (3000-5000 words) that covered a wide array of topics on the intersections between climate and gender. GI-ESCR contributed actively to this discussions by explaining the role that the human rights framework, especially economic, social and cultural and environmental rights can play in leading the transition towards sustainability. We furthermore shared our insights on how to implement in practice the principle of intersectionality and move forwards with the identification of solutions that aim to simultaneously address the climate emergency and gender inequality. This space provided an important space for GI-ESCR to contribute to shape UN Women’s understanding on just transition and the shift towards renewable energy.