Advocacy
Climate change poses the greatest threat to the most vulnerable, particularly women and girls, who are often the ones contributing the least to its escalation. The global climate crisis affects everything that CARE does and threatens our vision of a world of hope, tolerance and social justice where poverty has been overcome and people live in dignity and security. As the breadth and impact of the climate emergency are expected to worsen in the coming future, CARE must do all it can to ensure that our actions are part of a global, urgent, effective and equitable response.
CARE adds a great deal of value in our ability to communicate international climate justice and gender justice through the same lens. In our efforts to push countries to increase their climate ambition, CARE aims to ensure that gender justice and climate justice go hand-in-hand. By connecting women in solidarity networks that bridge the Global South and Global North, and helping women and their male allies to mobilize at local, national and international levels, CARE can significantly contribute to building a worldwide movement aimed at advancing pragmatic action by which leaders can accelerate climate action and the ecological transition that puts people — particularly women — at the center of climate policies and actions.
CARE, the UNFCCC and other policy processes
The international political response to climate change began with the adoption of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1992, which sets out a framework for action aimed at stabilizing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases to avoid “dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.” The Convention now has 196 parties. Each year the convention hosts a global meeting, known as a ‘COP’ (Conference Of Parties), which CARE influences through an international delegation with key demands for enhanced action to fight the climate emergency and ensure poverty-free, climate-resilient and zero-carbon sustainable development.
CARE also engages, as appropriate, in other fora and contexts, including national and regional implementation efforts in relation to climate action, the UN Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction, the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) process, and financial mechanisms such as the Green Climate Fund (GCF).
Decades of action and impact, make it clear that CARE has a great deal to contribute to the global movement for climate action, through local-to-global-to-local advocacy, namely:
- Promoting gender-equitable responses to climate change, particularly approaches that empower women and girls and lead to gender transformative outcomes.
- Communicating the links between policy choices and action on climate change in the Global North and Global South.
- Incorporating climate change across the spectrum from humanitarian assistance to long-term development.
- Generating evidence from practical experience on the ground to feed into program development, policy analysis and advocacy on climate change, both nationally and internationally.
- Building the capacity of local organizations in the Global South to do all of the above.
- Working in partnerships with other organizations and networks.
CARE’s Advocacy Campaign
#SheLeadsInCrisis: CARE demands that gender-justice be put at the center of the global response to the climate crises. Climate justice must start with her.
Building on our reputation as a leader in gender-just humanitarian and climate action, over the next three years CARE will encourage and equip its offices and partners around the world to participate in meaningful, coordinated, and consistent actions pushing for more ambitious and gender-just solutions to the climate crisis and humanitarian emergencies at global, regional and national levels.
Featured Content
CARE’s Key Demands for COP28
From CARE’s perspective, climate justice is about a future in which the poorest and most marginalized people, particularly women and girls, have improved their well-being significantly and can enjoy their human rights due to increased resilience to climate change, increased equality and a global temperature rise that is limited to 1.5°C
CARE’s Key Demands for COP27
CARE’s Key Demands for COP26
- FINANCE FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE
Developed countries must put forward a delivery plan for their
climate finance commitment. The plan must demonstrate that on
average at least USD$100 billion will be delivered each year in the
period 2020-2025, with 50% going to adaptation. - GENDER JUSTICE
While no specific gender negotiations are foreseen for COP26,
Parties must accelerate implementation of the Gender Action Plan,
including through announcing multi-year financial and/or
technical contributions and support to women-led and women’s
rights organizations. - MITIGATION FOR 1.5°C
Ensure further ambition increase for reaching a 1.5°C pathway by
the Global Stocktake 2023 at the latest, accelerate ending finance
for fossil fuels, and agree on Article 6 rules on emissions trading
only if they ensure environmental & social integrity. - GENDER-TRANSFORMATIVE ADAPTATION
Operationalize the Global Goal on Adaptation and further
accelerate the development and implementation of participatory,
inclusive and gender-transformative National Adaptation Plans. - TACKLING LOSS AND DAMAGE
Operationalize the Santiago Network on Loss and Damage and
establish a COP27 Special Envoy which explores new sources of
finance and the institutional set up to provide recommendations
by COP27.
CARE 2020 Program Strategy
This program strategy takes shape in a period of tremendous change in the world and within CARE. We are witnessing significant shifts in the patterns of poverty and inequality. In spite of global progress in reducing absolute poverty, wide gaps persist between and within countries. CARE’s vision is of a world of hope, tolerance and social justice, where poverty has been overcome and all people live in dignity and security. Based on 70 years of experience in poverty – fighting and humanitarian action, the CARE 2020 Program Strategy describes the changes in the world we want to see and our role in bringing about those changes. The purpose of the strategy is to focus our programs to clarify – both internally and externally – how we will contribute to eliminating poverty and social injustice.