Empower Co.

Empower Co. hosted and attended several meaningful events during Climate Week NYC. This year, the theme of Climate Week was?"It's Time,"?highlighting the urgent need for progress on accelerating scalable innovation in climate finance. Empower Co.’s mission to use voluntary markets to catalyze private sector investment in women-led climate solutions is the kind of innovative solution needed now — in the words of our founder Rachel Vestergaard Frandsen — “to not just mitigate or adapt to the climate crisis, but end it.” Empower Co. and Project Dandelion cohosted an extraordinary gathering of government officials, climate leaders, advocates, and philanthropic partners to align global goals and chart a course for collective climate action in preparation for COP30 in Brazil. We were honored to have many luminaries of the climate movement in attendance, including former president of Ireland Mary Robinson, Ambassador Elizabeth Bagley, former President of the UN General Assembly María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, Sonia Guajajara, Ana Toni, Anielle Franco, Célia Xakriabá, Puyr Tembé, and Pat Mitchell. Empower Co. and Eunoia cohosted an inspiring event with the support of Glenmede. This dynamic conversation highlighted women at the cutting edge of the climate crisis who are engaged in multidisciplinary solutions that address both social and climate impact, including Vibrant Data Labs, One Earth, ERA - Ecosystem Regeneration Associates, Resilient Earth Capital, SXD, and Trellis Climate. Rachel spoke Time for Better Hope House alongside Bill Nye and Saad Amer about the enormous climate implications of the upcoming election, and spotlighted Climate Voters, the coalition she founded with Ela J. to elect leaders up and down the ballot who will prioritize climate solutions. We fostered new connections, facilitated remarkable conversations, and were proud to showcase the work of our partner, ERA - Ecosystem Regeneration Associates, which centers women at the heart of critical climate solutions, investing in them as key caretakers of communities and ecosystems. We emerged from these discussions inspired and energized in our joint efforts to end the climate crisis. Special thanks to Chante Harris, Sierra Quitiquit, and to all who joined us this week!

Empower Co. is excited to share that we are now offering W+ Credits from a new project in India! The Women-led Community Resilient Local Governance (wCOREL) project in the state of Maharashtra is promoting sustainable community development by repositioning women as change makers and fostering collective leadership. This project builds community-driven resilience through women-led climate resilient farming. Project developer Swayam Shikshan Prayog (SSP) is focused on de-risking agriculture in climate-risk areas by transforming marginalized women farmers into resilient leaders. “This transformation has not only secured our livelihood, but has also empowered us to dream bigger and aim higher for our family’s future,” one woman participant said. Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management (WOCAN) used the W+ Standard? to measure the project’s outcomes in both the Income & Assets and Leadership domains. It demonstrated a remarkable 101% increase in Income & Assets, and 127% growth in Leadership, empowering over 1,500 women to advocate for their communities’ needs. These results were third-party audited and verified, enabling the project to generate W+ Credits that quantify this social impact. Learn more, and support this incredible project on our website! #womensempowerment #empoweringwomen #socialimpact #socialimpactinvesting #investinginwomen #womensupportingwomen

We are delighted to share our new piece, in collaboration with S&P Global Commodity Insights and Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management (WOCAN)! WOCAN developed the award-winning W+ Standard, which enables projects to measure and monetize their impact on women; S&P Global hosts the Standard on its Environmental Registry, and Empower Co. serves as the connector and catalyst in this new market, facilitating companies' investments into projects' verified W+ credits. Market-based solutions have transformed our collective approach to climate change, and Empower Co. is proud to play a part in developing these solutions for the advancement of women. Many thanks to our partners at WOCAN and S&P Global for their work on this piece! Read the article, and join us in our mission.