The COP30 Presidency’s disregard for gender equality:
It is of deep concern to the Women and Gender Constituency (WGC) that the COP30 Presidency continues to disregard gender equality and women’s rights and it undermines the principles of climate justice and gender-responsive climate action.
Despite the Presidency’s formal mandate to deliver an ambitious, renewed Gender Action Plan, gender has been entirely omitted from the list of 30 key objectives for COP30 communicated in the Presidency’s fourth letter to the international community today. This omission is not merely disappointing; it is unacceptable.
Gender is not a side issue. It is a standing agenda item under the UNFCCC, grounded in years of negotiation, scientific evidence, and tireless advocacy, which birthed the Lima work programme on gender and its Gender Action Plan. It reflects the well-documented fact that climate impacts are not gender-neutral and that effective climate policy must address systemic inequalities, including those rooted in gender.
The Presidency and its Action Team cannot hide behind vague references to “gender mainstreaming.” Gender mainstreaming does not replace the need for specific, targeted action, investment, and visibility. We remind the Presidency that mainstreaming was never intended to erase focused commitments; it was meant to support them.
In May, the WGC sent a formal letter to the COP30 Presidency calling for clarity, leadership, and accountability on this issue. To date, that letter has gone unanswered.
We therefore pose a candid and urgent question : What will it take for the COP30 Presidency to treat gender equality and women’s rights as a climate priority, not just in principle, but in action, policy, and public communication?
The WGC demands that:
- Gender is reinstated as a visible priority in COP30 communications, plans, and agendas, including a formal response to the WGC’s correspondence.
- The Gender Action Plan development process and negotiations are actively advanced, with concrete milestones and resourcing.
- Gender experts are meaningfully included in the design and delivery of the COP30 thematic priorities and negotiations.
The WGC is not asking for favors, we are asking for the fulfillment of existing commitments under the UNFCCC. Without clear gender leadership from the COP30 Presidency, the credibility of the process, and its capacity to deliver equitable, just climate action, remains in question.The time for implied references is over; for a truly inclusive, multilevel, gender-responsive and cooperative action, substantive action and prominently prioritising gender equality by the COP30 Presidency is non-negotiable.
We are watching. And we will continue to raise our voices until gender equality is treated as the climate imperative that it is.
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