By Henry Neondo, ANTALYA, Türkiye
Women-led organisations and climate finance experts are calling for a fundamental shift in how adaptation finance is delivered, warning that women and communities most exposed to climate change remain largely excluded from decisions about funding intended to protect their livelihoods.
At discussions during COP31, representatives from development finance institutions, philanthropic foundations and grassroots organisations stressed that climate finance must move beyond large-scale infrastructure investments to reach local organisations that understand the needs of vulnerable communities.
They argued that women, particularly those in the informal economy, indigenous communities, refugee populations and climate-displaced households, face significant barriers to accessing conventional financial systems.
“Those who are closest to the risk are the furthest away from the decision-making,” one panellist observed, highlighting the limited representation of migrant and refugee women in climate finance discussions.
The discussion underscored the importance of locally led adaptation, with participants urging public lenders, private investors and philanthropic organisations to develop financing instruments that respond to the realities of women on the front lines of climate change.
Audrey, representing the French Development Agency (AFD), said the institution delivered €3.2 billion in adaptation finance in the previous year, representing 42 per cent of its total climate finance. She added that 88 per cent of AFD-funded adaptation projects aim to advance socioeconomic equality, inclusion and gender equality.
AFD uses a range of financial instruments, including grants, loans, guarantees and equity investments, to support public and private sector actors. Its Adapt Action programme specifically targets inclusion and vulnerable populations.
She cited a project in Guinea supporting the integration of gender-specific targets into the country’s national agricultural investment plan.
AFD also uses an independent Sustainable Development Analysis Department to assess its investments, ensuring that projects address gender equality and align with low-carbon, climate-resilient and inclusive development objectives.
Germany’s development cooperation agency, GIZ, highlighted the importance of translating national climate policies into practical interventions at regional and municipal levels.
A GIZ representative pointed to urban mobility planning and public transport as examples of adaptation measures that can improve women’s livelihoods, particularly in cities across the Global South.
The representative also warned that the growing emphasis on large infrastructure investments risks sidelining microfinance schemes that can provide more accessible and gender-responsive adaptation support.
Philanthropic organisations, meanwhile, highlighted their ability to support early-stage interventions that conventional lenders may consider too risky.
One example came from Indonesia, where the foundation’s partner Prosper Global worked with women in a coastal fishing community to develop fish-processing businesses. The initiative subsequently connected their products to the government’s school feeding programme, creating a sustainable market for women’s enterprises.
The discussion also highlighted the experience of India’s Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), which represents approximately 3.9 million members and has worked with grassroots communities for more than five decades.
Shiva, a senior project coordinator at SEWA, said strong grassroots institutions are essential intermediaries between formal financial systems and communities.
She explained that conventional financial institutions often impose eligibility requirements that exclude women working in the informal economy, many of whom lack collateral, fixed incomes and formal assets.
To address these barriers, SEWA introduced interest-free financial advances of between $100 and $150 to help women recover from climate-related shocks.
One beneficiary, Sunita Ben, a maize farmer in Rajasthan, received support following a prolonged heatwave and volatile rainfall. Without the assistance, she would have been forced either to migrate in search of daily work or borrow money at interest rates of approximately six per cent per month.
The intervention enabled her to diversify her livelihood and avoid expensive borrowing.
A major development highlighted during the discussion was the Global Climate Resilience Facility for Women (GCRF), designed to encourage formal financial institutions to extend services to women in the informal economy.
The facility seeks to use philanthropic and concessional capital to reduce lending risks while strengthening grassroots institutions that women trust and depend on during recurring climate shocks.
The initiative builds on SEWA’s Livelihood Resilience and Recovery Fund, established in 2022.
Energy access also emerged as an important pathway for women’s economic empowerment. A representative of the Rockefeller Foundation highlighted its support for the Distributed Energy for Women Economic Empowerment programme, implemented through the Global Energy Alliance for People and the Planet and local partners in India.
The programme helps women access distributed energy solutions, including solar-powered irrigation, enabling them to increase agricultural productivity, improve household incomes and invest in their children’s education.
One household reportedly used increased income from solar-powered irrigation to purchase a bicycle for a daughter who travels seven kilometres to attend high school.
The discussions also brought attention to the growing intersection between climate change, gender inequality and displacement.
Anila Noor, representing a refugee women-led organisation, warned that climate displacement remains disconnected from many gender justice and climate finance discussions.
She called for refugee women and displaced communities to be included in decision-making, insisting that solutions must be developed with affected populations rather than imposed on them.
Participants further stressed that climate-displaced women and girls require immediate access to essential services, including education, childcare, hygiene and sanitation, even when their displacement is considered temporary.
The central message emerging from the discussions was that climate adaptation finance must be measured not simply by the amount of money committed, but by whether it reaches vulnerable women and produces tangible improvements in their lives.
Speakers called for stronger coordination between governments, development banks, philanthropic foundations, private investors and civil society organisations to close the gap between climate finance commitments and community-level delivery.
As climate impacts intensify, they argued, empowering women-led institutions and placing communities at the centre of adaptation planning will be critical to building more resilient and equitable societies.