Gender Equality and Climate Policy Scorecard: A framework for assessing country performance on gender-responsive climate action 30 years after Beijing

Since the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action recognized the environment as critical to gender equality, several studies have highlighted the disproportionate impacts of climate change on women and girls. Through engagement in global policymaking and use of innovative research methodologies, consensus emerged on the need for gender-responsive climate action. Progress, however, is hampered by persistent gaps in both impact and policy data. Official statistics rarely capture how climate change differently impacts women and men, and comparative evidence on how governments address these impacts remains fragmented. This article introduces the ‘Gender Equality and Climate Policy Scorecard’, a new accountability tool that provides a systematic framework for assessing climate policies from a gender perspective. To help close policy data gaps, the Scorecard translates policy documents into quantitative and qualitative data to track how governments are responding to gendered climate impacts and advancing women's participation and leadership. Applied to the 2025 round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), the Scorecard supports cross-country comparisons, fosters policy learning, and monitors implementation of gender-responsive commitments. At a pivotal moment for both climate and gender negotiations — three decades after the Beijing Conference — the Scorecard offers a timely contribution to global efforts to advance accountability for gender-responsive climate action.