Women’s leadership to mitigate climate emergency

The link between female leadership in private companies and public institutions and the involvement of these organizations in the fight against climate change is increasingly evident. According to an article by the European Investment Bank, states with a higher proportion of women in parliament are more likely to ratify environmental treaties and adopt policies that address global warming.

In the private sector, companies with a higher proportion of women on their boards are more likely to improve energy efficiency and reduce the companies’ overall environmental impact. Another study found that women-led companies make more efforts to curb emissions and perform better on environmental, social and governance indicators.

In the public sphere, the Caribbean and South America region is emerging as a leader in adopting environmental measures led by women. Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados, introduced herself to the world at COP27 when she created a coalition of countries committed to reforming the financial system to secure trillions of dollars in investments to address the climate emergency, called the Bridgetown Initiative.

Colombian and Brazilian environment ministers Susana Muhamad and Marina Silva were appointed to their posts for their commitment against deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. Silva was appointed environment minister in 2003 in Lula da Silva’s first term. She is credited with reducing Amazon deforestation by 70%. Muhamad led climate action planning for Latin America in the C40 Group and has worked with local governments to develop climate action plans under the Paris Agreement.

In the private sector, cases such as Ezgi Barcenas – who led AB InBev’s sustainability team – created the global 100+ Accelerator program to address sustainability challenges in the supply chain. Its impact grew in 2021 with the participation of Coca-Cola, Colgate Palmolive and Unilever. Barcenas designed the company’s 2025 Sustainability Goals and 2040 Net Zero ambition, and was recognized as a Sustainability Pioneer in 2022.

Eva Zabey leads Business for Nature, a global coalition that brings together more than 330 companies and investors. At the time, she organized a petition at the COP15 on biodiversity to make environmental impact reporting mandatory.