Introduction: Gender and climate are inseparable at COP30
As the COP30 gathering kicks off, the climate negotiations push toward a milestone: the adoption of a new UNFCCC Gender Action Plan (GAP) under the enhanced Lima work programme on gender. This plan aims to foreground gender equality and women’s leadership in climate policy, recognizing that climate change impacts are not gender-neutral and that solutions must be inclusive. CGIAR, with its global network of researchers and partners, is intensifying its engagement to ensure gender considerations run through research, policy advice, and practical action on the ground.
Why the GAP matters to CGIAR and climate research
The GAP under the UNFCCC framework emphasizes women’s rights, participation, and benefits from climate actions. For CGIAR, this translates into three core priorities: integrating gender analysis into climate-smart agriculture and nature-based solutions; expanding women’s leadership in science and decision-making; and ensuring that climate finance reaches women farmers, extension workers, and community leaders who are at the frontline of adaptation and resilience efforts.
At COP30, CGIAR researchers are highlighting how gender-responsive research accelerates outcomes. Projects that assess gender-differentiated impacts of drought, flood, and land degradation, for example, help design more effective adaptation strategies. By aligning with the GAP, CGIAR projects seek not only to measure outcomes but to empower communities—ensuring risks, opportunities, and benefits are distributed equitably among households and regions.
Key negotiation themes for CGIAR’s engagement
- Participation and leadership: Ensuring women and gender-diverse groups are represented in negotiation bodies, national policy processes, and local implementation teams that design and monitor climate actions.
- Access to finance: Advocating for gender-responsive climate financing that enables women-led enterprises, women farmers, and community groups to adopt innovative adaptation technologies and scalable solutions.
- Data and knowledge: Building gender-disaggregated data and evidence to inform policy, with a focus on how gender norms influence climate resilience and resource management.
- Accountability: Embedding gender indicators and reporting requirements in national action plans and international transparency mechanisms to track progress toward GAP goals.
CGIAR’s concrete contributions and demonstrations
CGIAR is advancing several practical demonstrations that align with the GAP’s aims. For instance, researchers are evaluating seed systems, agribusiness links, and extension services through a gender lens, ensuring that women’s voices shape crop choices, market access, and technology adoption. Pilot projects on climate-smart irrigation, soil health, and agroforestry increasingly incorporate women’s participation metrics and time-use analyses to reveal unintended burdens or benefits that may otherwise be overlooked.
In addition to field-based work, CGIAR is strengthening partnerships with women-led farmer organizations, local NGOs, and governmental agencies. These collaborations enhance governance structures around climate projects, enabling better representation, capacity building, and shared decision-making. Through capacity-building workshops and co-authored policy briefs, CGIAR aims to translate gender-responsive research into scalable policies and funding priorities that withstand political and economic shifts.
What success at COP30 would look like
Ultimately, success means the GAP is adopted with robust implementation provisions: clear timelines, measurable gender indicators, and accessible funding streams. For CGIAR, success also means that research outputs are readily translatable into policy and practice—equipping communities with practical tools, such as gender-inclusive climate risk assessments, that improve resilience and food security for smallholder farmers, particularly women and gender-diverse producers.
Moreover, COP30 offers an opportunity to elevate the narrative that climate justice is essential to the global climate agenda. When women and marginalized groups are empowered to participate meaningfully, climate solutions become more durable, equitable, and effective. CGIAR remains committed to this principle, weaving gender equality into every layer of climate research, policy engagement, and field action.
Looking ahead
As negotiations unfold, CGIAR will continue to publish, convene, and collaborate on gender-responsive evidence and policy recommendations. By highlighting real-world impacts and scalable models, CGIAR seeks to influence negotiation outcomes and inspire a more inclusive climate action agenda that benefits all communities, especially those most vulnerable to climate risks.
