Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia featured the launch of the report Spotlight on Women in Global Climate and Environmental Leadership, held during London Climate Action Week (LCAW) 2026 at an event co-organized by Plataforma CIPÓ and GWL Voices. The article presents the report’s key findings on the underrepresentation of women in global climate governance decision-making spaces and includes comments from CIPÓ’s Executive Director, Maiara Folly, on the challenges of increasing women’s participation in the institutions shaping international climate finance.
Produced by GWL Voices, the study examined more than three decades of international negotiations on climate change, biodiversity, and desertification. Among its findings, the report shows that fewer than one-third of senior leadership positions in the world’s leading environmental institutions have been held by women, who remain underrepresented in decision-making roles despite their significant participation in multilateral negotiations.
In the interview, Folly emphasized that gender inequality is also reflected in the architecture of international climate finance, limiting the integration of a gender perspective into decisions on the allocation of financial resources.
“Only 1% of climate finance incorporates a gender perspective, and that is something we need to change immediately,” she said. “The problem is that most international financial institutions have never been led by women, which means women are not present in these decision-making spaces. It is also essential to increase women’s representation in multilateral development banks if we want to transform this reality.”
The report was launched on June 22 during an official London Climate Action Week 2026 event co-organized by Plataforma CIPÓ and GWL Voices. The event brought together representatives from governments, international organizations, civil society, and leading experts to discuss the challenges and opportunities for advancing women’s leadership in global climate and environmental governance.
The panel featured discussions on the report’s findings and on pathways to strengthen gender equality across multilateral climate processes. Speakers included Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights; Rachel Kyte, the UK Special Representative for Climate; Bianca Pitt, from SHE Changes Climate; Karen Wong-Perez, from the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED); Renata K. Alvarenga, from EmpoderaClima; and Maiara Folly, Executive Director of Plataforma CIPÓ.
