At COP28, A WISE Investment: Advancing Women’s Participation in Climate Efforts

The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to advancing gender equality in our efforts to address climate change—including by ensuring women’s full participation in industries that are critical to the future of our planet.

On December 4, 2023, Gender Day at COP28, the U.S. Government is announcing $1.4 billion in investments to the Women in the Sustainable Economy (WISE) Initiative, including $441 million in additional aligned USG commitments since the launch of WISE.  WISE, which Vice President Kamala Harris first launched at the APEC Economic Leaders’ Summit in November, aims to improve women’s access to employment, training, leadership roles, and financing in green and blue industries.

In line with the U.S. National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equality, the WISE Initiative builds on the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to advance gender equity in mitigating and responding to climate change.  Today we are proud to announce a range of initiatives alongside our WISE commitments, including to address gender equality in climate resilience and preparedness efforts and promote women and girls’ leadership on climate issues.

Advancing Women’s Participation in the Sustainable Economy (WISE Initiative)

• [NEW] Bolstering Energy Capacity & Advancing Women in STEM ($425 million loan): TP Solar Limited, a subsidiary of Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited, will use this loan to construct and operate a 4-gigawatt solar cell and 4-gigawatt solar module manufacturing facility in India. With this expansion, the company commits to women making up over 60 percent of its workforce over time, enabled by Tata’s efforts to recruit, train, retain, and empower local women for STEM and management jobs. (U.S. International Development Finance Corporation)
• [NEW] Accelerating Women’s Participation in the Energy Sector ($16 million): The Just and Equitable Energy Transition Acceleration Project aims to improve the existing education and training system in Kosovo to better respond to the skill gaps in the energy sector and women’s low level of participation in this comparatively high-paying sector. To increase women’s representation in Kosovo’s energy sector, this project promotes gender-equitable practices within companies, supports networking, mentoring, and training opportunities for women, strengthens educational pathways, and provides technical assistance and small grants to employers in energy and adjacent sectors. (Millennium Challenge Corporation)
• [NEW] Supporting Women’s Skills Building and Employment in STEM in Indonesia ($8 million): The Indonesia Infrastructure and Finance Compact will work with municipal governments to develop sub-national government capacity and investment guidelines for transport and logistics infrastructure. This work will also support skills training, apprenticeships, scholarships, and job placements for women to increase their employment in relevant STEM fields in the five project provinces. (Millennium Challenge Corporation)
• Supporting the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) Climate Call ($10 million): Working with Congress, the Department of State plans to provide funding for a new climate-focused call for proposals under the existing World Bank We-Fi initiative. We-Fi aims to support women entrepreneurs in the sustainable economy by scaling up access to financial products and services, building capacity, expanding networks, offering mentors, and providing opportunities to link with domestic and global markets. (Department of State & Department of the Treasury)
• Expanding Financial Inclusion Through the Climate Gender Equity Fund (CGEF) ($5 million): This public-private partnership, launched with Amazon as its first founding partner, expands financial inclusion for women-led organizations and businesses focused on advancing sustainable economic growth by increasing access to climate finance for investment vehicles, intermediaries, businesses, and community-based organizations in developing countries. USAID and Amazon are joined by Reckitt, Visa Foundation, and UPS Foundation as founding partners of this first-ever climate finance facility dedicated to gender-responsive climate action. (USAID)
• Fostering and Elevating Girls’ Climate Leadership ($3 million): The new “Global Girls Creating Change” program aims to foster and elevate girls leading, shaping, and informing equitable and inclusive climate policies and actions. The project plans to reach 900 girls and young women in at least 29 countries globally through climate action education, advocacy, and network building. (Department of State)

Addressing Gender Equality in Climate Resilience and Preparedness Efforts

• Advancing Women’s Participation in Climate-Resilient Food Processing ($8.9 million loan): The Indian agri-food processing company S4S (Science for Society) Technologies will use this loan to scale its operations. Working with women farmers, the company emphasizes a women-inclusive supply chain by upskilling them in solar energy-powered dehydration food processing on farm sites, reducing food waste and improving food security and climate resilience. (U.S. International Development Finance Corporation)
• Promoting Women’s Climate Resilience in Morocco ($2 million): This new locally-led activity, developed in close collaboration with the Government of Morocco, will promote climate adaptation best practices and strengthen local systems to become resilient to climate change, particularly for women and girls, through economic growth and governance programming. (USAID)
• Increasing Women’s Leadership on Climate-Resilient Health Policies ($242,000): The PROPEL Adapt project will develop a toolkit and conduct training workshops to strengthen the capacity of women leaders to shape climate-resilient health policies—including attention to voluntary family planning and reproductive health—in fragile and climate-stressed settings. (USAID)
• Building Gender Equitable Geospatial Services ($90,000): The SERVIR Gender Analysis Tool was launched in 2023 to enable gender integration into geospatial services. This innovative activity will apply the Gender Analysis Tool to deepen the understanding of gender impacts in carbon monitoring services for women, girls, men, and boys across various socioeconomic groups, racial, and Indigenous identities in the Amazon.  Additionally, four SERVIR hubs in Asia, Africa, and Latin America will build capacity to develop gender-integrated geospatial services. The activity will enable hubs to conduct a gender analysis, integrate findings into service design, and engage more diverse groups of stakeholders. (NASA)

Promoting Women’s and Girls’ Leadership on Climate Issues

• Accelerating African Women’s Leadership in Climate Action ($2.5 million): Under the Agricultural Innovation Mission for Climate initiative, the African Women in Agricultural Research for Development, United Nations Foundation, Feed the Future Innovation Lb for Collaborative Research on Sustainable Intensification, and partners, with support from USAID, are launching an Innovation Sprint and mobilizing tens of millions to increase the number and experience of African women leading equitable climate solutions through agricultural research for development. (USAID)
• Training Leaders for Climate Action in the Middle East and North Africa ($1 million): The Leadership Development Fellowship provides young MENA leaders aged 28 to 35 with the opportunity to complete training in leadership, civic engagement, and social entrepreneurship. The project equips participants with new tools and networks of likeminded citizens prepared to engage directly in the urgent need to accelerate climate action. (Department of State)
• Advancing Women in the Clean Energy Workforce in Southeast Asia and the Pacific ($1 million): The “Women Energy Leaders (WEL)” program will advance the professional development of women in the clean energy workforce in Southeast Asia and the Pacific through mentorship, technical and leadership skills training, capstone projects, and job shadows to empower women to become leaders in decarbonization and the clean energy transition. (Department of State)
• Promoting Climate Resilience for Women in Bangladesh ($500,000): In partnership with Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) Skills Development Program, this project offers apprenticeship-based skills training for 1,200 girls who have dropped out of school and face a higher risk of child, early, and forced marriage in climate-vulnerable coastal regions of Bangladesh. (Department of State)
• Empowering Women Climate Entrepreneurs in India ($409,000): Through trainings in business skills, workshops, and other trainings, women entrepreneurs in India were equipped with skills to grow their business, attract investors, and increase profits.  (Department of State)