For decades, Nordic countries have been working collaboratively towards achieving the goals of the Beijing Platform for Action, formulated in 1995 and known as the most comprehensive and transformative global agenda for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. While progress has been made, challenges relating to gender pay gaps, occupational segregation, gendered violence and harassment, and work-life imbalances persist. These challenges extend into the realm of climate policy as well.
In 2019 at COP25, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Parties adopted The Enhanced Lima Work Programme on Gender (LWPG) and its Gender Action Plan. The responsibility of implementing the UNFCCC’s Gender Action Plan (GAP) rests on both the UNFCCC secretariat, United Nations entities, the work of Parties, and all stakeholders at all levels. Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden thereby committed to advancing knowledge and understanding of gender-responsive climate action and mainstreaming gender equality into the implementation of the Paris Agreement.
Although the Nordic countries have generally been pioneering the path towards climate neutrality and gender equality, it is acknowledged among decision-makers that a more integrated approach based on gender mainstreaming is needed. At the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW66) in 2022, the Nordic Ministers for Gender Equality and LGBTI made a commitment to promote international cooperation, alliance and advocacy on the interconnections between climate action and gender equality. They also pledged to develop and share knowledge on various aspects, including how the Nordics countries work to gender mainstream climate policy in a structured way, ensure inclusive green jobs, strengthen the representation of women in climate change decision-making, and work with gender analysis and gender budgeting in climate policy design- and measures. Aligned with this commitment made by Nordic ministers, this review accentuates a focus on gender equality in the realm of climate policy and green transition.
As the culmination of the Enhanced LWPG at COP29 in 2024 approaches, an opportunity arises for countries to exchange experiences and contribute to a potential new GAP. Thus, the review at hand aims to assess the current state of gender mainstreaming within Nordic climate policies and gather national practices, insights into gaps and barriers, and exemplary cases to enhance knowledge sharing among the Nordic countries.
The structure of the review and report is based on the five priority areas of the UNFCCC GAP, namely: ‘A: Capacity-building, knowledge management and communication’, ‘B: Gender balance, participation and women’s leadership’, ‘C: Coherence’, ‘D: Gender-responsive implementation and means of implementation’ and ‘E: Monitoring and reporting.’
The report presents best practices and recommendations based on the findings and review of gender mainstreaming in climate policy, thus pointing towards further development and implementation of gender-responsive climate policy in the Nordic countries, targeted the Nordic Co-operation, as well as national and regional/local levels.
2.1 Scope, methods, and limitations
The scope of this review is the implementation of the UNFCCC GAP in the five Nordic countries Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, primarily at a national level focusing primarily on domestic climate policy, while still including data and information on gender-responsive climate initiatives in foreign- and development policy. For an in-depth review of Nordic gender mainstreaming efforts in foreign- and development policy in relation to climate, see the recent review “Climate finance and gender: lessons from Nordic efforts to integrate gender equality in climate-related development finance”.
Regional and local/municipal examples of gender mainstreaming in climate policy have been incorporated as best-practice examples in the report, and gathered in chapter 6.
In assessing the implementation of the UNFCCC GAP, binary gender terminology has been used, in line with the terminology of the UNFCCC GAP’s focus exclusively on women and men. The same binary gender conception is employed in Nordic policy-making, except in Iceland, which has included a third gender option, ‘X’, in official documents in alignment with the Gender Autonomy Act from 2019.
The absence of a unified reporting structure and indicators for evaluating the UNFCCC GAP implementation has challenged the process of reviewing the Nordic countries’ national, regional, and local implementation of the plan in a systematic way.
The review draws on desk studies, screenings of relevant policy- documents and reports, as well as the involvement of policymakers and gender- and climate experts via interviews, e-mail questionnaires and online focus groups. The focus groups (5 in total) were conducted in online break-out rooms in an online cross-Nordic workshop in December 2023. Representatives from all five countries have participated in the NKL project steering group, sharing inputs for the review through contributing with contacts, relevant documents and feedback. Several of the steering group members also participated in focus groups. In total, nine inter-governmental stakeholders took part in e-mail questionnaires or interviews and/or focus groups. Five regional and municipal stakeholders contributed to the review via an e-mail questionnaire or participation in a focus group. Furthermore, 21 non-governmental stakeholders from gender- or climate organisations contributed via e-mail questionnaire or focus group. Furthermore, the version of the report has been shared with officials from relevant ministries across the Nordic countries and revised based on inputs received.
With regard to limitations, following the SBI’s latest report on implementing the activities contained in the UNFCCC GAP, the absence of a unified reporting structure and indicators for evaluating success combined with the limited amount of standardised, comparable, and comprehensive data, makes a cross-country review challenging. In addition, the current study's reviewers have found that reviewing the Nordic countries' implementation of the UNFCCC GAP is challenging due to variations in translations, application, and comprehension of gender mainstreaming concepts and terms across these countries.
Furthermore, it should be noted that this review is designed to provide a broad perspective across the five Nordic countries, primarily on a national level. The review has adopted an ad hoc approach to case collection on the regional and local levels, relying on targeted online searches, inquiries, and interviews.
A short timeline and the data collection taking place throughout the preparation, execution, and debriefing phases of COP28 have introduced certain constraints regarding the level of detail in parts of the data material. Moreover, given the varying stages of gender mainstreaming, the comprehensiveness and depth of each country’s profile will naturally differ.
See
Appendix A, for further description of methodology and limitations, incl. a list of contributors (
appendix C).