From October 30 to November 3, the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) and the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs organized the International Vienna Energy and Climate Forum (IVECF) and the Youth Solutions Days (YSD). For five days, government representatives, private sector CEOs, NGOs, practitioners and young professionals gathered to discuss and exchange best practices and innovative solutions to accelerate an inclusive energy transition and contribute to global climate action. The Gender and Energy Compact initiators ENERGIA, UNIDO and GWNET, together with SEforALL, the Clean Cooking Alliance, the LDC Group on Climate Change and other partners organized a series of gender-related side events on behalf of the Gender and Energy Compact Coalition, raising awareness on the need for gender equality and women’s empowerment and putting gender transformative action center stage.
Women changemakers leading climate action and the sustainable energy transition in LDCs and beyond
During the first session of the Gender Track, co-organized by UNIDO, GWNET and the LDC Group on Climate Change, five panelists took the audience on their journey into climate action and energy, after which they shared highlights and challenges in their careers and discussed career options within the sector. From the start, the diversity of experiences of the panelists was evident. Ms. Stella Funsani Gama started her career in the Forestry Department of the Ministry of Natural Resources of her country and entered climate-change negotiation spaces because of the deforestation-climate nexus. Ms. Natalia Weber was an energy engineer who understood the potential of renewable energy, while Ms. Paola Carvajal saw the impact of climate change in an indigenous community in Bolivia, where she lived. It turned her into the climate advocate and educator for indigenous communities she is today.
