From any angle of inequality analysis, women and girls are among the most affected by global warming. Brazil believes it is necessary to mainstream the gender issue across all negotiation tracks.

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This week marks the beginning of the high-level stage of COP30 negotiations. One of the advances we seek is the approval of a new Gender Action Plan (GAP) under the Climate Convention, with concrete measures to integrate a gender perspective into global climate action.

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From any perspective of inequality, women and girls are among the most affected: they have less access to land and credit; they earn lower wages; they make up the majority of the informal labour market; they take on most unpaid care work; and they face gender-based violence.

The same happens in the context of the climate crisis: the impacts fall disproportionately on them, increasing vulnerabilities and inequalities. At the same time, precisely because of the roles they play in their communities, women are key agents in building sustainable solutions.

Gender was introduced into climate negotiations in 2001, with a focus on increasing women’s participation in decision-making processes. In 2014, the Lima Work Programme on Gender (LWPG) consolidated the topic in the agenda of the climate convention.

After successive renewals, last year, at COP29 in Baku, a 10-year extension of this specific mandate was approved — ensuring continuity of gender negotiations within the climate regime, at a moment when the global context presents risks of setbacks on the issue.

At COP30 in Belém, Brazil is working for the adoption of a new and ambitious GAP. We want to bring the climate regime closer to the real lives of women and girls, especially the most vulnerable. It is necessary to acknowledge that climate change does not affect all people in the same way. Socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, and age — factors known as intersectionalities — determine different levels of exposure and vulnerability.

Brazil advocates for the recognition of the role of Afro-descendant women and girls in climate action. It is not possible to fight the climate crisis without simultaneously addressing gender inequality, racism, hunger, and poverty, nor without reducing disparities within and among nations.

For Brazil, climate justice is inseparable from the fight against racism and all forms of exclusion. Therefore, thanks to Brazilian leadership, the draft of the new GAP includes, for the first time in the climate regime, a reference to Afro-descendant women and girls.

Beyond the GAP, Brazil believes it is necessary to mainstream the gender issue in all negotiation areas. More than a decade after the start of the Lima mandate, the integration of a gender perspective into climate policies and negotiations is still far from complete. Gaps and imbalances in decision-making participation persist.

As long as gender is treated as an isolated item on the agenda, no COP will be able to fully deliver on the promise of climate justice. Addressing the climate crisis necessarily means confronting gender inequalities with a transversal, inclusive, and intersectional approach.

Vanessa Dolce de Faria, a career diplomat at the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Itamaraty), currently serves as the High Representative for Gender Issues at Itamaraty. Liliam Chagas is the Director of the Department of Climate at Itamaraty