THE GENDER-ENVIRONMENT
NEXUS: INTEGRATING A
GENDER LENS IN
ENVIRONMENTAL AND
CLIMATE POLICIES
Dimitra Xynou, Policy Analyst
Environment Directorate, OECD

Preliminary work
EPOC Survey on integrating
gender in environmental policies
Gender and
environmental statistics Brochure
Cohen, G. and M. Shinwell (2020),
"How far are OECD countries from
achieving SDG targets for women and
girls?: Applying a gender lens to
measuring distance to SDG targets"

Gender and the Environment report – the need for an
integrated policy framework on the nexus
• Gender equality and environmental goals are mutually
reinforcing;
• Gender-disaggregated data across environmental
sectors is limited;
• Large labour gaps in environment-sensitive sectors
remain.
Apply an
integrated
policy
framework
to leverage
the nexus
OECD (2021), Gender and the
Environment: Building Evidence and
Policies to Achieve the SDGs

Country work – the case of Greece
The gender-environment nexus is not systematically applied in Greece.
30 Recommendations under 5 target areas:
• Gender mainstreaming in environmental and climate policies
• Women’s economic empowerment in male-dominated
environmental sectors
• Women in green innovation
• Women in green jobs
• Women in green entrepreneurship
• Women’s presence in environmental leadership and decision-
making
• Gender-sensitive environmental justice
• Women’s green behaviour
• Statistical data and monitoring progress
OECD (2022), Empowering Women in
the Transition Towards Green Growth
in Greece

• Limited presence of gender-
sensitive measures in the OECD
Green Recovery Database.
• No gender-relevant measures found
in the agriculture, forestry, maritime
transport, air transport, industry or
waste management sector
categories.
• Half of the gender-relevant
measures identified relate to skills
and training, and R&D subsidies.
• Focus on climate change mitigation
and air pollution.
Gender-sensitive and green measures during the
COVID-19 pandemic
OECD (2021), "Gender-relevance of
policies in the OECD Green
Recovery Database"
https://data.undp.org/gendertracker/

• Other work
 Gender-environment
indicators
 Women’s leadership in
environmental action
 Gender equality and
climate change adaptation
in Latin America and the
Caribbean
Other work under the gender-environment nexus
• Possible future work
 Environmental
Performance and Green
Growth Policy Reviews
 Household Consumption
(EPIC) Survey
 Willingness-to-pay (WTP)
to avoid chemicals-related
negative health impacts

Supporting Women’s
Empowerment
through Green
Policies and Finance
Valentina Bellesi, Policy Analyst,
Environment Directorate, OECD

Gender-responsive sustainable finance
OECD (2022), Supporting women’s
empowerment through green policies
and finance
• This OECD Policy Paper devoted a chapter on the gender-
environment nexus in sustainable finance. Key messages include:
o To date, gender- and environment-related considerations have
been largely considered in silos, as ‘distinct lenses’ that are
integrated separately in a variety of financial instruments and
investment approaches.
o Making the financial system work for people and the planet
requires applying an ‘integrated lens’ that draws connections
between environmental objectives and gender equality (and
other social) objectives.
o Further efforts are needed to create synergies between the
environmental, gender and social dimensions of sustainable
finance policies.

Gender integration in ESG investing and metrics
• Gender-disaggregation of E- metrics
and further development of gender
metrics in the S and G pillar
• Increased transparency and
comparability of metrics and
methodologies
• Mainstreaming gender across all ESG
investment strategies
• Low transparency of ESG rating
methodologies
• Limited/incomparable information
on metrics and weights
• Limited inclusion of gender across
the whole range of ESG investment
strategies available
What’s needed
Main challenges

Follow-up, upcoming work
OECD is conducting a series of capacity building activities with the
Indonesian Financial Services Authority (OJK) on sustainable finance for
women’s empowerment in Indonesia
 Series of Focus Group Discussions, i.e. workshops to assist OJK’s efforts to ensure that
sustainable finance products and services advance women’s empowerment in Indonesia,
as part of the OECD Clean Energy Finance and Investment Mobilisation (CEFIM) country
programme in Indonesia
 Analysis and discussions with local financial institutions and other stakeholders to build
capacity and raise awareness on:
• The interlinkages between gender-responsive sustainable finance and financial
consumer protection, literacy and inclusion
• Integrating gender in sustainable finance products and services
• Measuring, reporting and disclosing gender and sustainability performance

`z
Thank you!
For more information, please contact:
Dimitra Xynou: Dimitra.xynou@oecd.org
Valentina Bellesi: valentina.bellesi@oecd.org