COP29 row breaks out with Vatican over gender rights

For more than a decade it has been acknowledged by countries globally that women face a disproportionate burden from climate change, often due to their caring roles and interruption of access to reproductive services during climate disasters.

According to UN Women, external, by 2050 close to 240 million more women and girls will face food insecurity caused by climate change compared to 131 million more men and boys. Whilst at the same time only 0.01%, external of funding globally goes to climate change projects that also take account of women.

In the new plan African and EU countries wanted to also include a line that not all women’s experiences of climate change are the same – that they can differ depending on their “gender, sex, age and race”.

The Vatican, along with Saudi Arabia, Russia, Egypt and Iran, said they took issue with the use of the word “gender” which they think could include transgender women, country negotiators told the BBC.

Charities observing this were surprised as over the course of a decade these countries had not taken issue with the use of the word.

“I was shocked when the Vatican raised their flag and opposed the human rights language,” said Sostina Takure, from Christian charity ACT Alliance. “My heart shattered into a million pieces.”