Towards gender-responsive climate action in public financing: the case of Public Development Banks

Due to existing discriminatory gender norms, women, men, boys, and girls are impacted differently by climate change. Having acknowledged the slow progress towards gender equality and calling for accelerated action, Public Development Banks have recently stepped up their institutional commitment towards gender responsive climate finance. We present an empirical assessment of how PDBs conceptualize the gender and climate change finance nexus, how their operational frameworks have been designed to incorporate this nexus, and what challenges they encounter in responding to global efforts towards gender responsive climate action. The study reveals a narrow conceptualization of gender in climate change, a high degree of heterogeneity in how gender and climate change are integrated into the PDBs' operational frameworks, critical challenges in accessing accurate data and the absence of concrete performance targets to translate strategic aspirations and concrete indicators.