The triple planetary crisis weighs heavily on women, deepening gender inequality and trapping millions in poverty. To counter that, UNEP proactively ensures that women participate equally in environmental restoration while creating economic opportunities that make people more resilient to climate change. 

UNEP supported dozens of countries in integrating the principles of human rights and gender equality into their national biodiversity strategies and worked with nations under the Global Framework on Chemicals to integrate gender-related considerations into the management of hazardous chemicals and waste. 

UNEP and UN Women continued the rollout of a programme that provides support to women in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Viet Nam as they access finance and purchase clean-energy technologies. The effort is expected to benefit 100,000 people. 

UNEP and partners also launched the latest round of an accelerator for green start-ups in Asia-Pacific. Since 2021, the accelerator has supported 100 businesses, including 30 run by women. Those firms have gone on to raise a combined US$350 million. 

Those successes come from UNEP’s efforts to mainstream gender across its programme of work. Initial results indicate that 94 per cent of UNEP projects designed in the first half of 2024 integrated gender well, based on a comprehensive metric used by the UN.