Can women close the climate ‘gates of hell’?

(Context, 12 Oct 2023) Women’s health and incomes are hit harder by extreme heat – so it makes sense to invest in their resilience to climate change.

Rachel Kyte is board chair of Climate Resilience for All, and Kathy Baughman McLeod is founding CEO of Climate Resilience for All.

We each spent a week in New York at the annual U.N. General Assembly and Climate Action Summit last month - and while there is progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals and climate action, progress must be exponentially faster.

The talk seems very far away from the people hurting the most from the effects of global heating, like Kunwarben in Ahmedabad, India, a street vendor, mother of two, and member of the union called the Self Employed Women's Association. After spending time with her, she told us that, along with her children, she suffers in the high temperatures from headaches, dizziness, and dehydration. She is also struggling with significant losses in income because extreme heat spoils the meat on her cart before she can sell it.

The science is clear. We have to reduce carbon emissions drastically now and remove much of what we continue to emit. We imperil nature and people the longer we delay action. We have the financial capacity we need, but it is either channeled to the wrong things (growing fossil fuel subsidies) or not reaching those who need it.

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Context, 12 Oct 2023: Can women close the climate ‘gates of hell’?