Hope. Optimism. Resilience.

Over the last month, I was lucky to travel across New York for Climate Week & the SDG Action Weekend, UNGA and then to Luxembourg for our 2X Global Annual Member meeting (not missing the irony about the carbon footprint marked up while on such sojourns). Over this time it was fantastic to be connecting with changemakers globally and to be steeped in the climate finance conversations, exploring ways for gender and broader social inclusion to be integrated more deeply. There was resonance around how it's not only about investing more into mitigation efforts, but just as much; if not more, about adaptation. Moreover it is AND not OR, and that it is equally important to be investing in climate resilience.

Around the topic of climate finance, there is hope and optimism in the air, underpinned by elements such as us having a conversation on shifting the financial architecture, naming that supporting nature-based solutions is part of climate action and there are so many speaking truth to power. I feel energised by our collective commitment and actions towards sustained change for all. Here I outline four broader takeaways to accelerate pathways to unlock gender-smart climate finance at scale.?

• The What: Language still mattersAs Impact Alpha shared recently, narrative and language matters as it relates to climate action. For some, it is grounded in the scientific case, for others the moral- which can also lead to despair and then there is the political discourse. Within the investment space as I am learning, a prevalent rhetoric that has taken hold is around risk mitigation especially around the common denominator of net-zero investing and transition planning. While this focus on mitigation is important, for a truly sustainable and just transition, we need to integrate a gender and broader social inclusion lens, centre community voices, support locally-led solutions and those with proximity to the innovations.?I noted that depending on the room you were in- ranging from those focused on feminist climate justice movement actors to sustainable investing folks, to development actors or gender and climate finance stakeholders- while each was using different language and terminology, a common thread was the outcomes. Everyone was most excited and driven by having a liveable planet for all and creating a just, equitable financial and economic system that works for all. So while each room was using slightly different language and nomenclature, the context-specific narrative was equally important, but sometimes you need to chameleon yourself to "be in the room where it happens" (thanks Hamilton!).?So what: Narrative building and shaping remains one of the key leverage points for scaling up gender- smart climate finance, so we need to keep working on it/tuning up and down to make the case, double clicking that its an AND not OR i.e. you can be a gender-smart climate investors and a climate-smart gender investor, and it’s all needed to meet society’s biggest challenges. Gender and climate finance, while growing, remains siloed, but as abundant evidence shows (Note: Project Drawdown , UNFCC and 2X Global’s knowledge hub ) gender is material for investments (in particular climate finance) as not only are women and marginalised communities disproportionately impacted by climate change but also at the leading edge of solutions.? To get started, learn more on the what, why and why now in our foundational report on gender-smart climate finance. Let's move beyond asking why gender should be integrated in climate finance to why not?
• The How: All flavours of Capital Needed

Of the over $600bn in climate finance flows, only 1% had a gender lens by 2021. According to the United Nations Environment Programme , meeting climate change goals requires an estimated $300 billion by 2030 and $500 billion by 2050 - in emerging markets alone-yet these estimated costs are 5 to 10 times greater than current funding flows. Moreover as the above CPI report shows, the majority of this finance is earmarked for mitigation, with around 10% for adaptation, underpinning substantial room and opportunity to unlock greater private sector capital to meet these funding goals; more strategically and with greater impact for all.

Excitingly, during Climate Week NYC, a wide range of funding initiatives we launched including: i) Rockefeller Foundation committing $1bn to advance climate solutions, ii) a coalition of Bloomberg Philanthropies, Bezos Earth Fund, ClimateWorks Foundation , and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation launching a three-year, $340 million pledge to support the development of data and research for climate action, and iii) one we at 2X Global are super excited to be a part of, the Climate Gender Equity Fund (CGEF) launched by U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), with the support of Amazon, Visa Foundation and Reckitt as Founding Members. There were a number of dialogues across all aspects of the financial spectrum in terms of raising the bar for reporting and standards, rolling out different types of capital needed to meet these funding gaps and furthering voluntary carbon markets as some examples. This momentum, vigour and urgency to accelerate funding solutions and in particular to advance fit-for-purpose capital structures across the capital spectrum is timely and much needed.

So what: There are many ways to activate your gender-smart climate finance journey and our toolkit outlines practical ways to get started, as well as case studies and other examples to get you on your way.?

• The Why: A Sustainable Shift and Just Transition

Gender finance is about looking at how gender patterns impact access to capital, opportunity, decision making; such that gender-smart investors recognise that financial systems engage with and benefit men and women, particularly women of colour differently. As such, by integrating gender as a factor of analysis alongside financial analysis, they are actively committed to using finance as a tool to promote gender equality and propel better financial and gender outcomes. It was heartening to hear more calls to action centred on gender equality, as well as a just transition and to more broadly and cohesively centre social considerations into climate finance. There is also a growing body of evidence and research on centering frontline communities and indigenous voices , to not only value and learn from their wisdom but also to better support the proximate solutions they are advancing.?As the authors of this incredible report share; ultimately we are all working towards “halting and reversing the effects of human-driven climate change”, so we need all the voices and all our collective power to ensure equitable outcomes are not a pipedream.

So what: In our Inclusive Climate Finance report we illustrate the importance of centering justice and focusing on frontline communities to advance more equitable gender and climates outcomes. Moreover, our just launched Fair Futures handbook dives into climate and gender scenarios and arms investors with strategic guidance on how to future-proof your portfolio.?

• The Why Now: There is no Planet B

A final whiff of optimism is coming from seeing more widespread recognition of our interconnectedness with nature and that nature-based solutions are important for climate action, and for a just and equitable transition- especially given how linked all these aspects are and why systemic approaches are essential. During September, there was the launch of the final recommendations by the Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD)- providing guidance for companies and investors to assess and disclose material nature-related dependencies and impacts, risks and opportunities.

The? Climate Champions Team also released this paper on mobilising greater capital towards nature-based solutions, and the Forest Finance Risk Consortium (FFRC) alongside Global Canopy and Ceres released “Deforestation-free finance: a guide on tools and frameworks for financial institutions, ” and this excellent guide and underpinning taskforce, outlines practical recommendations to steer the global economy to a nature-positive pathway. All of these practical tools and pathways are key to ensuring nature is not an afterthought.?

I leave you by this piece by Johan Rockstr?m (Professor of Earth System Science at the University of Potsdam and the Director Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research), where he outlines “Sustainability is no longer an environmental issue only and to achieve prosperity and equity for all now and in the future” we need all our collective action across all fronts.

So as we start this week, I ask us to muster all our hope, optimism and resilience. We have the tools we need, we have the collective commitment, and we have (almost all- need better gender balance and diverse voices) actors at the table. Let's continue galvanising this movement forward-further, faster and fiercely.?