9 Key Takeaways from GWL Voices at COP30

As COP30 concludes, GWL Voices reflects on the good, the not-so-good, and the challenging moments from Belém in line with the GWL Voices’ 4 Key Asks for COP30. The good includes historic steps such as the adoption of the Belém Gender Action Plan and growing recognition of women’s leadership in climate action. The not-so-good reveals persistent gaps in climate finance, NDC ambition, and gender representation. The more challenging aspects, such as the lack of consensus on fossil fuel phase-out commitments and the underrepresentation of women in high-level negotiations remind us that ambition must be matched with accountability and inclusion.

1. The Belém Gender Action Plan Breaks New Ground

One of the major achievements of COP30 was the adoption of the Belém Gender Action Plan (GAP) (GAP) for 2025–2034, featuring robust language that, for the first time, explicitly includes care work, women’s health, and violence against women. The plan also significantly expands references to girls—from just one to nine—and, for the first time, recognizes Afro-descendant women and women environmental defenders as key climate actors, underscoring the importance of their representation.

A central point for GWL Voices is the GAP’s explicit promotion of women’s equal representation across UNFCCC processes—an urgent priority highlighted in GWL Voices' Spotlight on Women in Climate and Environmental Governance teaser, which shows just how far the system still is from achieving gender parity.

2. A Promising Signal of Global Unity on Gender and Climate

On 10 November, a remarkable 92 countries endorsed the Friends of Gender Statement at COP30—an affirmation of growing global commitment to gender equality in climate action. The signatories pledged to promote inclusive, effective, and meaningful participation, ensuring that women are not only present but actively shaping climate decision-making as agents of change and as beneficiaries of gender equality. From local communities to international negotiating tables, this broad coalition signals renewed momentum to place women’s leadership at the heart of climate solutions.

GWL Voices warmly welcomes this initiative and stands ready to continue working with partners to advance women’s full and equal participation across all climate governance spaces.

3. Advancing Climate Justice Through Gender-Responsive Action

The outcomes of COP30 mark a critical step forward in embedding gender-responsive approaches into climate action, ensuring that women, girls, and vulnerable communities are central to solutions.

• Just Transition: Belem Action Mechanism (BAM)

Parties agreed on the Just Transition Work Programme (JTWP) and established the Belem Action Mechanism (BAM), originally proposed by the Women and Gender Constituency and other civil society groups. The BAM is designed to guide, accelerate, and strengthen concrete action toward a just transition to a low-carbon economy on the ground, ensuring that transitions are equitable and inclusive. Supporting women-led initiatives within these low-carbon solutions is essential, as women are disproportionately affected by climate change yet are pivotal agents of systemic change.

• Adaptation: Gender-Responsive Indicators for the Global Goal on Adaptation

COP30 also advanced the Global Goal on Adaptation by developing a set of indicators to track progress, including the status of gender-responsive adaptation plans, policy instruments, and planning processes. All indicators may be disaggregated by gender and other relevant factors, enabling accountability and transparency in adaptation efforts. Integrating gender into adaptation tracking ensures policies respond to the differentiated risks, needs, and contributions of women and marginalized communities, amplifying their voices in climate decision-making and strengthening the resilience of entire communities.

• Belém Health Action Plan (BHAP)

Brazil’s Belém Health Action Plan (BHAP) strengthens the health sector’s adaptation to climate change through gender-responsive approaches and support for women-led projects, backed by USD 300 million in philanthropic pledges. Alongside the Belem Action Mechanism (BAM) and gender-responsive adaptation indicators, the BHAP reflects a shared commitment to an inclusive climate future. GWL Voices emphasizes that gender-responsive action must go beyond commitments to measurable results, ensuring women’s leadership and participation across all stages—from low-carbon transitions to health system adaptation—and calls on Parties and implementing bodies to establish accountability, transparent reporting, and dedicated funding to deliver tangible outcomes for women, girls, and vulnerable communities.

4. Momentum on Climate Finance: Important Steps and Remaining Gaps

The Baku to Belém Roadmap to 1.3T lays out a path to mobilize USD 1.3 trillion in annual climate finance for developing countries by 2035. It includes encouraging references to women—acknowledging structural barriers in accessing finance, recognizing gendered climate impacts linked to caregiving, noting that only 4% of adaptation ODA in 2022 targeted gender, and highlighting women’s underrepresentation in leadership. Still, the Roadmap omits gender-responsive budgeting, gender-disaggregated data, and clear mechanisms for tracking gender outcomes. GWL Voices’ full analysis of the B2B Roadmap is available here.

Parties also agreed to a two-year climate finance work programme and committed to tripling adaptation finance by 2035, although this remains below the USD 120 billion annually needed by 2030. They further launched the Topical Forest Forever Facility, which has already mobilized USD 6.6 billion.

GWL Voices welcomes these steps and continues advocating for climate finance that fully integrates gender equality, ensuring women’s leadership and needs are at the center of a more just and effective climate finance system.

5. Gender Priorities Still Underrepresented

The Global Mutirão cover decision addressed the “big four” issues of COP30: finance from developed to developing countries, trade, transparency, and the strengthened NDCs needed to keep the 1.5°C goal within reach.

While it referenced the Paris Agreement’s commitment to gender equality and the empowerment of women, it did not include substantive language on women or gender equality. At GWL Voices, we will continue advocating for the inclusion of gender-responsive climate action in the COP30 cover decision—reflecting both the disproportionate impacts of the climate crisis on women and girls, and the important milestone achieved at COP30 with the adoption of the new Belém Gender Action Plan.

6. Challenges Remain on NDCs 1.5°C Ambition

The Global Mutirão at COP30 also highlighted that even with full implementation of the latest Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), global temperatures are still projected to rise 2.3–2.5°C, compared to 4°C prior to the Paris Agreement. While Parties were encouraged to align their NDCs with the 1.5°C target and the “Belém Mission to 1.5” was launched to accelerate NDC and NAP implementation, significant gaps remain.

By 22 November, 118 countries had submitted their NDCs, covering 73% of global emissions. GWL Voices has tracked the inclusion of women and girls in NDCs, highlighting where gender considerations are integrated and where gaps persist. This underscores that ambition alone is not enough: the quality and inclusivity of NDCs, particularly women’s leadership, determine whether commitments translate into just and effective climate action.

Despite progress, the Mutirão fell short on key issues. Countries failed to agree on a fossil fuel phase-out roadmap, though the COP30 Presidency announced it would develop one, along with a roadmap to halt deforestation. These outcomes make clear that bridging the gap between ambition and action remains urgent, and gender-responsive climate leadership must be prioritized.

7. Women Are Still Underrepresented in Climate Leadership

Despite incremental progress, women remain significantly underrepresented in high-level climate decision-making. At the World Leaders Summit preceding COP30 (6–7 November), only one in four leaders (25%) were women, an improvement from COP29, where just 10% of leaders were women, but still reflective of persistent gender disparities in political leadership.

On the ground, GWL Voices’ members—including María Elena Agüero, Alicia Bárcena, Michelle Bachelet, Flavia Bustreo, Ertharin Cousin, Patricia Espinosa, Christiana Figueres, and Mary Robinson—demonstrated the vital impact of women leaders driving ambitious and gender-just climate action. While official data on women’s representation in country delegations is still forthcoming, GWL Voices continues to track and advocate for greater inclusion and leadership of women in all climate processes, recognizing that gender-balanced representation is not only a matter of equity but also essential for effective and transformative climate solutions.

8. Indigenous Women at COP30: Essential Voices in Climate Action

COP30 saw an unprecedented presence of Indigenous Peoples, with Indigenous women at the forefront as guardians of biodiversity and stewards of ancestral knowledge. While their expertise and leadership are vital to protecting forests, land, and water, they often remain underrepresented in decision-making processes.

The peaceful protest by Munduruku women outside COP30 underscored the urgency of translating Indigenous demands into actionable climate policies. Brazilian Minister Sonia Guajajara exemplifies how empowering Indigenous women strengthens climate governance and policy outcomes.

GWL Voices emphasizes that an inclusive, gender-equal climate system must actively integrate Indigenous women’s voices at every level. Ensuring their participation is essential not only for justice but for effective and sustainable climate action.

9. Next Steps: Advancing Gender-Just Climate Action

Building on COP30’s progress, GWL Voices calls for concrete actions to translate commitments into results. Key next steps include: ensuring gender parity and leadership across all climate governance bodies, integrating Indigenous women’s voices in policy design and implementation, and embedding gender-responsive climate finance mechanisms with transparent tracking. Strengthening accountability and funding for women-led initiatives will be critical to deliver a just, inclusive, and effective climate response that leaves no one behind.

GWL Voices continues its work on advancing climate action and promoting women’s representation and leadership, as it prepares to launch the full Spotlight on Women in Climate and Environmental Governance in 2026, providing a comprehensive roadmap to strengthen gender-just climate solutions globally.