On the occasion of the 2020 virtual Global Meeting, the Women’s Forum and ClimateSeed have joined forces to achieve meaningful climate action. This action is based on the recognition of women’s fundamental role in the fight against climate change. From global leadership to small communities in developing countries, women must be empowered and involved in protecting our planet if humanity wants to succeed in tackling the most important challenge of our time.
Climate and environmental action has always been at
the heart of the Women’s Forum discussions and actions; thus, the Women’s Forum,
a Publicis Groupe company, has partnered with ClimateSeed, a Social Business
launched by BNP Paribas in collaboration with Nobel Peace Prize Professor
Yunus’ team. ClimateSeed helps organizations measure and reduce their carbon
footprint and achieve positive environmental and social impacts through carbon
reduction projects that support local communities and protect the planet and
its biodiversity.
The Women’s Forum collaborated with ClimateSeed to
measure the carbon footprint of its virtual Global Meeting, and pre-selected
high-quality carbon reduction projects that contribute to the achievement of SDG
5 (gender equality) as they promote employment and empowerment of women in
local communities.
ClimateSeed and the Women’s Forum will set up a digital voting module for Global Meeting participants to vote for their favourite project among the pre-selected projects. This action aims to raise awareness around social and environmental issues, as well as empower participants. This inclusive initiative wants to remind participants that everybody can play a key role in the fight against climate change. Subsequently, a climate contribution will be made for the winning project through ClimateSeed’s digital platform to generate positive impact on local communities.
Women are leading the fight against climate change
The Women’s Forum recognizes the need to foster
women’s involvement in managing one of the greatest challenges of our time: the
climate crisis. This implies the need to support women worldwide and empower
them through employment opportunities that contribute to a greener economy and
a sustainable development trajectory. In other words, climate action and
women’s empowerment must occur simultaneously. For this reason, the Women’s
Forum, through its partnership with ClimateSeed, has decided to make a climate
contribution for its annual Global Meeting Event for a project that
simultaneously reduces CO2 emissions, protects the environment and
promotes gender equality within local communities. As such, the Women’s Forum,
a Publicis Groupe company, demonstrates its commitment to the fight against
climate change, the protection of the environment and the empowerment of women
worldwide.
The projects
The
Women’s Forum, together with ClimateSeed, has preselected two projects, which
will be voted on by Forum participants.
REDD+
Project in India
The first
project is located in India, in a critical area threatened by forest
degradation. This project aims to halt and reverse the loss of community
forests by providing support and financial incentives to conserve existing
forests and regenerate degraded forests. Forest plot monitoring has shown that
the young regenerating forests are sequestering carbon at an annual rate of
1.75tCO2e/ha over the seven years since the project began. The project area is
a global biodiversity hotspot, providing habitat to many endangered species.
Moreover, the project delivers long-term strategies to address extreme poverty
faced by rural families and is involved in the establishment of women-run
microfinance institutions.
The
project is also manufacturing and installing fuel-efficient cook stoves and
plants to subsidize the majority of the 5,000 households in the project area.
As a result, fuelwood consumption and indoor smoke pollution are reduced, thus
improving forest and family health.
Cook
stoves Project in Peru
The second
project supports households that are considered some of the poorest families in
Peru. The objective of the project is to provide families with clean cook
stoves that require less wood. These new efficient stoves reduce wood
consumption and therefore CO2 emissions, for a total of 1 745 491
tCO2e avoided by the project to this day. The decrease in wood
consumption (by 655 878 tonnes to the day), contributes to combat deforestation
and forest degradation, but also translates into money and timesavings for
families. Moreover, as the stoves are provided with a chimney, smoke is
naturally drawn out the house, thus improving the family’s health conditions.
ClimateSeed and the Women’s Forum aim to increase
awareness of the gender and climate nexus, and demonstrate how women’s
empowerment and fighting climate change go hand-in-hand. By making a climate
contribution for the event’s emissions, their joint action aims to go beyond
sensibilisation to achieve a concrete positive environmental and social impact
around the two themes that are respectively at the heart of their business:
women empowerment and the protection of nature.
