Green Economies Need Women More Than Women Need Recognition
In a world racing toward climate catastrophe, the solutions crafted by women – especially in the Global South – remain stubbornly invisible to policymakers, investors, and global institutions. Over the last two months, SHE Changes Climate has deliberately turned the spotlight toward these overlooked architects of a gender-just green transition. In partnership with IIED Europe, Green Economy Coalition, and the European Union, the Green Economies, Powered by Women campaign has documented how the climate leadership we desperately need exists already, in the hands of women systematically excluded from power.
From the outset, this campaign asked a simple question—who’s already doing the work? The answers came in from across the world: Nepal, Kenya, India, Mongolia, Uganda, and France. What emerged was a mosaic of powerful socio-economic frameworks created by women developing sustainable solutions that are rooted, region-specific, and replicable.
“Female green entrepreneurs around the world are already taking the lead on pushing for fair and sustainable economies. But they need more finance, better connections, and less stigma to let them flourish as the powerhouse agents of change. It’s absolutely critical that NGOs, MDBs and policymakers work fast to unlock funding so that it reaches women in the grassroots so they can achieve their full potential.”
Jean McLean, Interim Convenor (Executive Director), Green Economy Coalition
Green Economies, Powered by Women
In Uganda, a recycling initiative led by women has become a lifeline for single mothers creating jobs while reimagining waste management. This model challenges the idea that waste is a technical problem—showing instead how social infrastructure shapes environmental outcomes.
In Nepal, women revived degraded wetlands by turning invasive plants into organic fertiliser—restoring ecological balance while generating income. In Kenya, agroforestry models led by women and youth blend conservation with income security, reimagining how land is used and who gets to decide. Both these stories, separated by over 5,000 kms, refuse the artificial separation between environmental recovery and economic necessity.
Women across India demonstrate how voice and inclusion transform environmental action. In Bundelkhand region, community radio has given women a platform in climate conversations, previously and usually dominated by men. In Maharashtra, a woman-led organisation is restoring river systems while keeping climate-vulnerable communities at the center. Together, these initiatives underline how meaningful environmental solutions require both representation in narrative and inclusive approaches to implementation.
In Mongolia, the push for clean, ethical skincare began with one woman’s struggle with pollution and grew into a women-powered enterprise grounded in sustainability. And in France, climate-conscious leadership in real estate is showing how environmental insight can shape not just policy, but investment itself.
Each of these stories emerged from different geographies and contexts, but together they pointed to a clear pattern—one that global research has confirmed, time and again.
Research featured across the campaign showed that companies with women on their boards perform better on environmental metrics, including renewable energy use and emissions reductions. Women entrepreneurs are more likely to prioritise sustainability, hire other women, and design inclusive solutions that take future generations into account. Yet (un)surprisingly, women-led firms achieve higher ESG scores yet receive a fraction of investment—just $26 million in private equity funding compared to $10 billion for male-founded cleantech ventures. These figures represent opportunities systematically foregone by maintaining exclusionary structures.
Live, open-to-public conversations during the campaign brought nuance to these patterns. In our webinar on South Asia’s Energy Transition Sector, speakers laid bare the gap between recognition and real ownership—women manage solar grids and lead energy enterprises, yet remain excluded from decisions that shape those systems. As Kanika Verma, Associate Vice President and Lead - Green and Inclusive Entrepreneurship, Development Alternatives put it, empowerment means “putting money into people’s pockets”, not stopping at access.
In our second webinar on Brazil’s Nature-based Transition to a Greener Economy, the conversation turned towards structural reforms. Black and Indigenous women, central to environmental protection efforts, face legal and economic barriers that keep them out of decision-making spaces. Still, they lead local economies, coordinate flood response brigades, and demand accountability from institutions. Their persistence demonstrates how climate resilience emerges precisely from communities that established systems have marginalised.
Across both sessions, the message was clear. The transition to a green economy will fail if it replicates the same hierarchies that created the crisis. Climate change is not gender-neutral, and neither should our responses be.
“It should be so obvious that we should invest in women because there is no lack of data to support the importance of investing in women. The World Bank statistics over the last 20 years show that women invest 90% of their income in their families and communities, unlike men who mostly invest in themselves.”
Andrea Alvares, Board Chair of Instituto Ethos, investor in socio-bioeconomy, and sustainability leader.
From Beneficiaries to Architects
For too long, global discourse has positioned women as beneficiaries rather than architects, vulnerable rather than visionary. The evidence gathered through this campaign demonstrates something entirely different: when women lead climate action, the results are both equitable and effective. Their solutions endure because they reimagine systems.
When talking about transitioning to green economies, the conversation must expand beyond carbon and capital to include communities, care, and courage. The Green Economies, Powered by Women campaign has demonstrated how deliberately shifting narrative, investment, and influence toward models of climate leadership that are inclusive by design creates more effective outcomes.
SHE Changes Climate will carry forward this momentum—creating space, and demanding policy shifts that reflect the realities women face and the solutions they bring. Because if there’s one thing this campaign has reiterated, it’s this: when women lead climate action, the results are effective, equitable, enduring, and transformative.