Making a Case for (En)Gendering Energy Transition: Legal Basis and Levers for Change

Energy transition is a pressing global priority for a variety of environmental,social and economic reasons. The current energy transition discourse is mainlylinked to addressing the climate change crisis which disproportionately affectspopulations that are in vulnerable situations. Moreover, achieving energytransition requires an inclusive approach that tackles the structural causes ofvulnerability. In connection with this, gender inequality is closely linked withadverse climate change impacts, energy poverty, and other complex humandevelopment challenges which need to be overcome for a just energy transition.The UN 2030 agenda prioritises gender equality as a Sustainable DevelopmentGoal (SDG) alongside other goals on climate action, energy security, etc.Taking the issue of women’s vulnerability to climate change and related risks inthe energy transition process, this paper recognises women as crucialstakeholders and agents of change for a just transition. Against this backdrop,the paper interrogates the intersections between gender, climate change andenergy transition particularly focusing on the legal basis for advocating forgender equality and its relevance in the international energy transition andclimate change governance framework. The paper explores the two keyapproaches that have been adopted to integrate gender in climate action,namely: reporting under the UNFCCC framework and strengthening women’sleadership in climate change governance. In light of the prevailing gender gaps,this paper proposes four levers of change to address gender vulnerability andcapacity gaps for a gender just energy transition through promoting worker’srights and safety; education; gender inclusiveness; and intersectionality,particularly at the national and subnational levels.