Greetings!

This month, we look back on London Climate Action Week events that we co-hosted with partners and attended, to draw out highlights from discussions we had on how gender outcomes can boost carbon markets and climate finance.

Throughout the week, our conversations reinforced—and deepened—what we have long believed: women's empowerment and leadership are fundamental to the durability, integrity, and long-term success of climate projects. They also affirmed that existing carbon markets and other outcomes-based finance mechanisms can be harnessed to deliver both environmental and social impact by recognizing, measuring, and rewarding women's contributions.

Whether the discussion centered on the integrity of carbon markets or the future of outcomes-based finance, one message consistently emerged: women are not simply participants in climate action—they are essential to delivering lasting, equitable, and high-impact solutions.

What distinguished this year's London Climate Action Week was not the novelty of these ideas, but the growing recognition of them. For the first time, we saw these concepts resonating across a much broader community of investors, carbon market actors, policymakers, and project developers, signaling that gender-responsive climate finance is moving from the margins toward the mainstream.

In this edition, we share the highlights and key learnings from those conversations, as well as the partnerships and ideas that will help us continue to move our work forward in the months ahead.

Know someone who’d love this? Invite them to subscribe.

Warmly,

Larissa Dominguez

W+ Coordinator

W+ Digest

London Climate Action Week 2025: Event Debrief

Advancing Gender-Responsive Climate Finance and Carbon Markets

London Climate Action Week provided an important opportunity for WOCAN and the W+ Standard to convene partners from across the climate finance, carbon market, and development ecosystem to examine how gender-responsive approaches can strengthen climate outcomes while unlocking more inclusive investment.

Across three events, a consistent message emerged: women's leadership is not a co-benefit of climate action—it is fundamental to delivering high-quality, resilient, and lasting climate solutions.

The Carbon Portfolio Gap: The Role of Gender in the Voluntary Carbon Market

London Climate Action Week began with The Carbon Portfolio Gap: The Role of Gender in the Voluntary Carbon Market, hosted by Abatable in partnership with Women in Carbon. The discussion brought together leaders from across investment, project development, and the voluntary carbon market to explore why gender remains under-represented in assessments of project quality and investment risk.

Representing WOCAN and the W+ Standard, Jeannette Gurung introduced the W+ Standard and highlighted its role in enabling projects to measure and verify women's empowerment outcomes alongside climate impacts. Sheena Patel (VNV – Value Network Ventures/WOCAN) built on this by sharing practical insights into how project developers can integrate the W+ Standard into project design and implementation, demonstrating how robust gender-responsive metrics can strengthen project credibility while delivering measurable benefits for women and communities.

The discussion challenged the perception of gender as a social "add-on" and instead positioned women's inclusion as a critical indicator of project resilience, governance, and long-term performance. A key takeaway was that stronger standards, better data, and verified gender outcomes are essential to helping investors and buyers recognize gender as a marker of project quality and portfolio resilience, rather than simply a co-benefit.

The energy in the room made it clear that this conversation is far from over. We're already working on what's next and look forward to sharing more with you soon.

Making Social Impact Count



An event with hosted with VNV, Making Social Impact Count, explored a question becoming increasingly important across voluntary carbon markets: if livelihoods, gender inclusion and community resilience matter, how do we measure them consistently, value them appropriately, and integrate them into procurement decisions?

Bringing together perspectives from across the ecosystem, Jeannette Gurung (WOCAN), Jodi Manning (Cool Effect), Estherine Fotabong (AUDA-NEPAD) and Sandeep Roy Choudhury (VNV) examined how social impact can move beyond being treated as a co-benefit and become a defining characteristic of high-integrity climate projects.

The discussion called for more consistent approaches to measuring social outcomes, greater transparency for buyers, and stronger recognition of the long-term value that climate projects create for people and communities.

No Integrity Without Inclusion: Gender and the Future of Carbon Markets

Building on these discussions, WOCAN co-hosted this event with CGAP that featured speakers from the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM), Rainbow Standard, Swedfund, VNV – Value Network Ventures, Fundación Gran Chaco/W20, The Nature Conservancy, Natural Climate Solutions Alliance of WBSCD, and Abatable to explore the role of women in strengthening carbon market integrity.

Panellists demonstrated how women's leadership in governance, financial inclusion, community engagement, and local decision-making creates the social infrastructure that enables climate projects to succeed over the long term. Discussions also pointed out the need for stronger gender capacities and improved approaches to measuring and valuing women's contributions across the sector. 

The panel concluded with a shared understanding that high-integrity carbon markets depend not only on environmental performance but also on inclusive governance and equitable participation and benefit sharing

Gender and Outcome-Based Finance: Mobilizing Capital for Women-Centered Climate Solutions

The second event of WOCAN in partnership with CGAP brought together leaders from development and climate finance institutions, research organizations and advisors for blended finance and impact investing to explore how outcome-based finance can accelerate investment in women-centred climate solutions.

Participants discussed the importance of moving beyond measuring participation to measuring meaningful outcomes, including women's agency, leadership, resilience, and livelihoods. The conversation highlighted how robust gender-responsive metrics, independent verification, and innovative financing structures can help investors recognise and reward these outcomes using OBF mechanisms, including that of carbon markets, but also bonds and other instruments. Participants also explored how outcome-based finance can better reach rural women and community leaders who remain underserved by traditional financing models despite their essential role in climate resilience.

Jeannette's Reflections from London Climate Week 2026

London Climate Week reinforced something I've believed for a long time: gender is no longer a "nice-to-have" in climate projects—it is becoming a marker of quality, resilience, and long-term success.

Representing WOCAN alongside Sheena Patel and board member Nisha Singh, we joined discussions across the carbon and climate finance sectors. A clear message emerged: projects that intentionally engage women and measure gender outcomes are increasingly being recognised as stronger investments with better governance, reduced risk, and greater community impact.

My key takeaways:

• 🌿 Gender is becoming a signal of project integrity, not simply a co-benefit.
• 🌿 Investors need a stronger business case for gender-responsive climate projects.
• 🌿 Markets can only reward what they can measure—verified gender outcomes matter.
• 🌿 Trusted intermediaries and standards have an important role in guiding buyers and investors.
• 🌿 Momentum is building, with growing interest in outcome-based finance and gender-responsive investment.

What encouraged me most was seeing how conversations have evolved. Gender inclusion is no longer on the sidelines; it is increasingly recognised as fundamental to delivering high-quality climate solutions.

Read Jeannette Gurung's full reflections on London Climate Action Week on LinkedIn here



Looking Ahead

One message echoed throughout all events: climate finance is not marginal to gender equality, but central to its success.

With climate finance still evolving, the sector has the opportunity to move beyond seeing women’s empowerment as an added social benefit to seeing it as a critical part of project quality, investment resilience and long-term climate success.

WOCAN remains committed to working with partners in the public and private sectors to improve gender-responsive climate finance, to promote strong approaches to measuring women’s empowerment and to ensure women are recognised as leaders in building a more resilient and sustainable future.

We extend our sincere thanks to all of our partners, speakers, and participants who contributed to these important conversations during London Climate Action Week.

We look forward to continuing the dialogue and translating these ideas into action.

Help us grow the conversation. If you know a colleague, partner, or friend who is passionate about gender equality, climate finance, or sustainable development, share the W+ Digest with them and invite them to subscribe. Together, we can amplify the ideas and partnerships driving more inclusive climate action.

Stay Connected

Know someone who would value measurable women-centered climate solutions?

Invite them to join the growing W+ community.

Each month, subscribers receive:

• Country highlights from W+ projects around the world
• Insights on measurement, markets, and women’s empowerment metrics
• Leadership conversations from the WOCAN Podcast
• Opportunities for partnership and engagement

Help us grow a global movement that ensures women’s empowerment is measured, valued, and invested in.



👉Subscribe here

Support measurable empowerment

Every W+ Credit represents verified progress for women and the planet.

Together, we can scale impact — purchase your W+ Credits here.