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Women—and women businesses—represent the face of a greener and more climate-resilient future. They have a strong personal stake in adapting to and mitigating the impacts of climate change, because they are especially vulnerable—representing 80 percent of climate refugees—and because their businesses are often clustered in sectors most exposed.1 Studies also suggest that women are more predisposed than men to taking climate actions aimed at global decarbonization and sustainability goals—changing their consumer behaviors to support greener brands and aligning their wealth portfolios with investments embedded with robust environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards.2
For financial services providers, targeting women with solutions to boost resilience and mitigate climate change is good business.
Financial services providers also have a pivotal role in supporting women green entrepreneurs, who receive just a small portion of global climate funding, credit, and investment—even though the overall business case for investing in women entrepreneurs is strong, as is the business case for investing in women’s green enterprises.3
Bottom line: Financial services providers that take a gender-intelligent approach to designing their green customer value propositions will position them well for opportunities in the Female Economy.
Women are women entrepreneurs are more likely to start sustainability-focused businesses, and they are willing to disrupt and innovate—key characteristics to drive a green economy.(GEF, 2022; EIB. 2022.
1 United Nations, 2022.
2 World Economic Forum, 2021; RBC, 2021.
3 TechCrunch. 2023; BCG. 2021;
While current climate and gender efforts are often siloed within the org charts of financial institutions, the opportunity to deliver on climate can easily build on the capabilities built to support Women’s Markets.
Starting at the top with C-Suite champions and internal communication campaigns; moving to gender intelligent market research and customer value proposition (CVP) design; then to staff education and sales training; and finally to integration into key performance metrics, our members are demonstrating that Women’s Markets program steps can and should be replicated for climate. By using the same building blocks of successful Women’s Markets programs, we help members understand the business case for targeting women with green products and services, develop effective green customer value propositions, and boost their internal climate commitments.
The Annual Summit is the Alliance’s flagship event—the premier global gathering of thought leaders, banks, fintechs, insurance companies, development finance institutions, investors, venture capitalists, regulators, and other financial ecosystem stakeholders. Through the years, the Summit has built a well-deserved reputation as the MUST-ATTEND event for all those involved in advancing women’s financial inclusion.
Summit participants benefit from formal sessions featuring senior practitioners and subject matter experts on how to optimize the potential of Women’s Markets and women’s leadership. The networking is equally valuable, as attendees share experiences and uncover new opportunities to tap into the growing global female economy.
Ask the Expert gives members access to real-time guidance from Women’s Markets experts. Modeled on one of the most popular sessions of our acclaimed All-Stars Academy, the Coaches’ Corner, Ask the Expert features live, interactive webinars, anchored by some of the most successful Women’s Markets practitioners in the world. Delivered quarterly to members only, the webinars cover timely topics related to enhancing women customers’ value propositions, with time set aside during each session for participants to get their questions answered.
The Climate Action Working Group held in 2023 provided guidance to members on applying a gender lens to their green initiatives and applying a climate lens to their gender initiatives. By sharing the latest research and best practices, members learned more about opportunities at the nexus of gender and climate—and how to make use of the actions they have already taken to build their Women’s Markets programs to enhance their climate offerings.
The Resource Hub includes content developed by the Alliance aimed at helping member institutions enhance their understanding of opportunities at the gender-climate nexus. This includes materials available exclusively to members, and publicly available content aimed at helping financial services providers align with global climate goals and meet the growing demand among women customer segments for financing to support climate innovation, adaption, and mitigation, such as our In Brief, Building the Gender-Intelligent Green Customer Value Proposition. The hub also features member case studies, along with a curated list of related materials published by relevant third parties.