With only four years remaining to achieve the SDGs, accelerated action is essential. To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG 7–universal access to affordable, reliable, modern, and sustainable energy by 2030–women’s leadership must be central to the discussion.

Evidence consistently shows that women’s leadership yields powerful returns. Companies with more women on their boards are 60% more likely to reduce energy consumption and 39% more likely to lower greenhouse gas emissions.2 Countries with more women in parliament are more likely to have stricter climate policies and ratify environmental treaties. Companies with more women in senior management see a 30% higher return on equity.

This Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) 70 side event, “Shaping the green transition: Accelerating climate & energy action through women’s leadership,” will unite women leaders from academia, policy, philanthropy, media, and the private sector to share actionable strategies for accelerating women’s full and effective participation in shaping an inclusive and just green transition. The discussion will highlight intersecting pathways through which women are already dismantling systemic barriers in energy and climate governance and where further inlets for strengthening access exist.

This discussion is in alignment with the CSW 70 priority theme of “Ensuring and strengthening access to justice for a l women and girls, including by promoting inclusive and equitable legal systems, eliminating discriminatory laws, policies, and practices, and addressing structural barriers,” and review theme of “Women’s full and effective participation and decision making in public life, as well as the elimination of violence, for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.”

By amplifying the stories and strategies of established and emerging women leaders in energy and climate, this session underscores leadership as a form of access to justice, an act of ensuring equitable participation in shaping the policies, systems, and investments that define the global energy transition.

Key Objectives

• Empower action by sharing replicable models that elevate women’s leadership in sustainable energy and climate finance.
• Expose systemic barriers limiting women’s participation in climate-related decision-making and
  investment ecosystems.
• Showcase leadership pathways driven by mentoring, networking, and targeted institutional support.
• Mobilize cross-sector collaboration toward inclusive climate and energy transitions.

Speakers

Ms. Rosemary Idem
Programme Manager, Gender and Youth, Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL)

Ms. Ambriel Pouncy
Global Head of Engagement and Ecosystem Innovation, The Digital Economist; Founder, Fusion Fashion Tech Society; CEO & Founder, HBCU Climate Ventures

Mr. Jean-Paul Adam
Director for Policy, Monitoring and Advocacy, Office of the Special Adviser on Africa to the United Nations Secretary General

Ms. Sarah Steinberg
Head of Global Public Policy Partnerships, LinkedIn

Ms. Ann Lee-Jeffs
Founder and President, Sustainability Women in the World (SW2)

Mr. Sakhi Ataye
Programs Associate, Yale Center for Business and Environment; Co-Founder & President, Kaaj Education; Co-Founder, Democratizing Innovation Institute

Ms. Valentina Guido Bergamo
Senior Associate, RMI