As cities expand rapidly (70% of the global population is expected to live in urban areas by 2050 – the climate threat is intensified, the way we design and fund urban climate solutions will determine whether they promote resilience or deepen existing social and economic divisions. Women face unique vulnerabilities in cities, shaped by social roles, access to resources and decision-making capabilities. They are the biggest impacts of climate shocks, but will still be largely excluded from the decision-making processes and financial systems that shape urban responses. This exclusion is not only a kind of oversight. This is a structural failure that undermines the overall effectiveness of climate finance. It is assumed that urban climate strategies do not meet women’s gender differences and various needs. In this case, they may prioritize short-term efficiency over long-term sustainability, resulting in millions of unsupported and consolidated existing inequalities.
Last month, we celebrated International Women’s Month – a powerful reminder of the need to continue to increase gender equality. But conversations should not be limited to one month. The blog explores the gender impact of urban climate financing and the importance of gender-responsive approaches to ensure that women are not excluded.
Gender impacts of urban climate change
To understand the gender impact of urban climate financing, we must first examine how climate change uniquely affects women in cities. A growing body of evidence highlights the unique challenges women face in urban environments. These include care responsibilities, which increase vulnerability during the climate crisis, limited mobility due to security issues and insufficient infrastructure, and economic differences that disproportionately expose women to climate-related disturbances such as floods and heat waves. For example, women’s care roles often make them more dependent on underfunded urban infrastructure, exacerbating their economic instability and limiting access to basic services. This increases the burden on their unpaid labor and further consolidates gender inequality.
Despite these well-documented challenges, there is a key gap in gender-beating urban policy and investment program data. Many cities and financial institutions have failed to collect or integrate data on how climate risks and financing gaps particularly affect women. There is no clear, quantifiable data such as women’s dependence on public transport, increased health risks posed by high temperatures, or lack of access to land and financial services – policymakers often default on defaults, violating a certain size policy that failed to address these unique vulnerabilities. Bridging this data gap is crucial to ensuring that urban climate financing is not only available, but also impact and influence on women.
When gender is ignored in financing urban projects, it inadvertently exacerbates systemic inequality. For example, public infrastructure investments can prioritize efficiency and cost-effectiveness, and can neglect accessibility and safety, prevent women from fully benefiting from services such as public transportation and limiting their mobility and economic opportunities. Furthermore, women in low-income or informal sectors are often excluded from the traditional financial system due to restrictive social norms, gender-based income differences, and limited collateral such as land ownership. These barriers make it difficult for women to obtain climate financial programs designed to promote sustainable urban development or climate resilience. A notable example is the agroclimate-rich financing program that provides loans or grants for climate-smart agriculture or sustainable land management practices. However, eligibility requirements such as land ownership, formal credit history, or the ability to provide collateral often exclude women who own land or have formal financial records. Therefore, despite the significant contributions made by women to agriculture, they have only received a small portion of the financial resources allocated for climate adaptation projects.
Addressing the gender impact of urban climate financing requires a fundamental shift to inclusive data collection and policy design. Targeted interventions are crucial to address women’s unique vulnerability and disruption of inequality cycles in urban environments. Bridging the gender data gap and prioritizing access to, equitable financial systems can enable women to be active participants in creating resilient, sustainable cities.
Gender differences in urban climate finance
As outstanding in 2024 Urban Climate Finance Reportmost urban climate financing is targeted at mitigation efforts. While crucial, this focus reflects financial and gender bias. The energy and transportation tradition sectors are dominated by male-led, employment and technical expertise as the share of mitigation funds. These sectors often lack gender diversity participation, especially in decision-making roles, affecting the priorities and implementation of investments. In contrast, adaptive women’s contribution is most obvious and critical, especially when underfunded at the community level. These contributions include organizing grassroots disaster preparations, managing climate-rich food systems, and maintaining informal care and service networks to keep cities running during climate shocks. This imbalance cannot meet the needs of those most vulnerable to climate shocks, while in the case of actors who best lead locally relevant, community-driven climate solutions.
Women are at the heart of adaptation work in urban environments. They lead disaster preparations at the neighborhood level, promote climate-rich urban agriculture, and maintain informal economies that provide important services during the crisis. For example, in many African and Asian cities, community saving groups and cooperatives led by women lead flood storage infrastructure upgrades and early warning systems. However, these efforts are often not recognized and supported by formal climate finance mechanisms.
By neglecting women’s knowledge, labor and leadership in the adaptation sector, climate financing not only perpetuates structural inequality, but also misses opportunities to invest in effective, scalable solutions. Prioritizing gender-responsive finance and utilizing resources to adaptation and mitigation measures for women’s leadership is not only a matter of justice; building inclusive, lasting and urban resilience based on local reality is crucial.
Conclusion: The fundamental role of gender integration in urban climate financing
Gender differences in urban climate financing are not peripheral, they are a structural flaw that weakens the basis of climate resilience. When half of the world’s population is excluded from financial systems, infrastructure design, and policy making and decision-making, urban climate strategies are inevitably inadequate. Women, especially in low-income communities, already play a key role in the frontlines of climate adaptation efforts, but continue to keep the financial resources and institutional support needed to narrow its impact.
To build true resilience and sustainability cities, gender integration must be embedded in the heart of the climate finance framework, rather than an afterthought, but a strategic priority. This means funding initiatives for women’s leadership or impact, monitoring progress through gender-restricted data, and ensuring women’s voices are critical to urban climate planning and financial decision-making. Whether it’s leading disaster response networks, managing urban farms that enhance food security or promoting community adaptation strategies, women are not passive aid recipients—they are key enablers of change.
At CCFLA, we recognize this urgency and are committed to improving our inclusion of gender equality in our work. We have conducted a comprehensive gender analysis and are developing an action plan to ensure our work supports inclusive climate financing. But we can't be alone. We urge all stakeholders (government, financial institutions and civil society) to take this work seriously as it deserves. This includes not only integrating gender into its climate financing strategies, but also emphasizing and sharing best practices so that we can collectively learn, adapt and expand effective approaches. Together, we can ensure that urban climate financing serves everyone – and build more inclusive and resilient cities for the future.
