Reducing the data gap on the gender-climate-environment nexus
IIED and partners are working to advance gender-just climate and environmental action by advocating for the use of accessible, intersectional data in decision-making spaces.
Senior researcher (strengthening partnerships team), Climate Change research group
Indigenous women’s groups perform a Tlalmanalli opening ceremony to kick off the Generation Equality Forum in Mexico in 2021 (Photo: UN Women, via Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Gender-blind, one-size-fits-all policies fail to serve women, gender-diverse and marginalised groups, perpetuating climate and environmental injustices.
The impacts of intertwined crises, such as climate change, biodiversity loss and desertification, vary widely among women and girls. This depends on their specific contexts and intersecting identities, and reveals the deep inequalities that affect women and girls differently. Recognising and addressing these interlinkages are essential for effective policymaking.
This is why data is power. It helps reveal different lived experiences and it shows what is working and, critically, what isn't. But for data to be truly transformative, a shift is needed.
Applying a ‘whole-of-society’ approach to data will ensure that the knowledge contributions of Indigenous Peoples and local communities are recognised, upholding their right to collect, own and control data that is created with or about themselves.
Very often, larger organisations dominate data collection, control and ownership, and this imbalance disempowers local communities and traditionally marginalised individuals and groups, limiting their ability to advocate for their interests.
When official statistics are complemented with community-driven data, you ensure fairer, more effective solutions to climate and environmental crises.
What is IIED doing?
Together with partners, IIED is working to address the critical need for accessible, intersectional, usable data on the gender-climate-environment nexus, and advocating for its use by decision makers.
In addition to making IIED’s own wealth of gender data more accessible to others, through the creation of the Gender Environment Hub, we are working to connect and join forces with other databases, such as those profiled by the Gender + Environment Data Alliance (GEDA), to promote the use of such data to support policy decisions.
This existing gender data knowledge in IIED is being analysed by researchers who will identify challenges with and gaps in the data in order to inform future work, and who will work with colleagues and partners to improve the collection, use and dissemination of gender-climate-environment data more widely.
We are also partnering with and supporting local actors in their efforts to advocate for data sovereignty and own and manage their own data.
Additional resources
Understanding gender-based violence in critical mineral mining, Abbi Buxton (2025), IIED Briefing
Video: Gender, climate and biodiversity: leveraging data for inclusive policymaking (February 2025)
News: Historic platform for Indigenous Peoples, but finance failure at COP16 (November 2024)
