Power for a Sustainable Future: Women and Green Energy
Date:
Author: Julie Broussard, UN Women China for Econet China
Green energy development does not automatically benefit all evenly and sustainably. The world today faces a significant energy divide, between rich and poor countries, between urban and rural areas and between men and women. 1.1 billion people worldwide, mainly in rural areas, do not have access to energy, and 2.9 billion people worldwide still use solid biomass, such as wood or waste, for cooking and heating. In developing Asia, 526 million people, or 14 per cent of the population, lack electricity access. Without significant political commitment and investment, energy poverty is said to deteriorate even further over the next 20 years.
Women in most developing countries disproportionally bear the burden for energy poverty, as women and girls are the primary energy providers in the household and collect solid biomass, which is not only time consuming, but also limits their educational and income generating options. Additionally, women and children suffer greatly from the health risks associated with indoor air pollution of cooking with solid biomass. However, rapidly decreasing renewable energy technology costs and new business models also mean that technological decentralized energy solutions hold great promise to accelerate universal sustainable energy access. Providing renewable energy technology to rural communities promotes their economic development. On a large scale this can significantly increase cost effective economic development and offer local and global environmental gains.
China has established itself as a leader in total renew-able energy investment and capacity. It currently has the world’s biggest financial commitment to renewable energy, investing over 100 billion USD in 2015. Under the 13th Five Year Plan (2016-2020), the country aims to have 750 GW of renewables capacity available – more than all the countries of the OECD combined. China’s plan to invest 361 billion USD in renewable energy by 2020 is estimated to create 13 million more clean energy jobs by the end of this decade.
As the energy sector will play an increasingly critical role in livelihoods and energy access, diversification and distribution of those who control the energy system change is increasingly important. Nevertheless, research shows that there is currently a larger gender gap in the energy sector than in any other major industry throughout the world, as women account for only 20-25 per cent of the global energy workforce. Although research demonstrates that diversity enhances innovation and creativity, there is limited attention to promoting gender diversity within companies’ workforce. The gender wage gap in China has been decreasing over the last few decades and in 2010, urban women’s income was 67.3 per cent of men’s, and rural women’s income was 56 per cent that of their male counterparts. Women face barriers in recruitment processes and bias in the workplace. Specifically in rural areas, women are disadvantaged in their access to loans, skills development opportunities and other productive resources, which limit their entrepreneurial opportunities.
It is possible to change this pattern of women’s disempowerment for the benefit of both women and the economy. Research shows that an increase in women’s productive employment results in faster economic growth. Similarly, comparison of the Human Development Index 2014 and Global Gender Gap Index 2015 confirm a correlation between gender equality and GDP per capita, the level of competitiveness and hu-man development.
Aligned with the understanding of the multiple benefits of addressing the current gender gaps, UN Women, together with UNEP, has developed a Global Programme on “Women’s Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Energy”. The programme promotes gender-inclusive energy planning and policy, improves access to finance for women entrepreneurs in the green energy sector and promotes women’s productive use of sustainable energy. It also aims to increase the skills and knowledge of female sustain-able energy entrepreneurs, and ensure safe, discrimination-free working environments that attract and promote women. In China, UN Women is looking to collaborate with the private sector on innovative approaches to support women in being leaders in pro-moting sustainable energy for their own and communities’ empowerment. As the global energy leader, successfully addressing gender in the context of in China’s renewable energy industry is an opportunity for mainstreaming gender in renewable energy both nationally and globally.
助力实现可持续未来：妇女与绿色能源
来自联合国妇女署的汤竹丽的客邀文章
绿色能源的发展并未可持续并均衡地使每个人受益。现今巨大的能源鸿沟存在于城乡、男女以及发展程度不同的国家之间。全球有11亿人无法获得能源，尤其在农村地区；而同时有29亿人口仍使用固体生物质 （例如木头或废料）烹饪和取暖。亚洲的发展中国家有5.26亿人，即人口的百分之十四生活在电力缺乏的环境。在没有重大的政治承诺或投资下，能源贫困的情况将会在未来20年进一步恶化。
大多数发展中国家的妇女不成比例地肩负着能源贫困所带来的重担。妇女和女孩是家庭的主要能源提供者，她们花费了长时间收集固体生物质燃料（solid biomass），这限制了她们的教育和选择其他有收益工作的可能性。此外，妇女和儿童因室内烹饪而长期曝露在受生物质燃料污染的空气中，承担著高健康风险。因可再生能源技术成本快速下降和新的商业模式的出现，解决能源问题不再只有单一方案，也意味著可持续能源获取的普及有望加速。大规模提供可再生能源科技可以显着提高经济效益，增加地方和全球的环境效益，向农村社区提供可再生能源将促进他们经济发展。
中国已经成为可再生能源总投资建设的领头羊。在全球，目前中国对可再生能源有着最高额的财政承诺。在2015年中国的投资了超过1000亿美元。根据中国“十三五”计划 (2016-2020)，未来将达到750吉瓦的可再生能源容量，这将超过国际经合组织所有国家 的目标总和。到2020年，中国计划在可再生能源投资3610亿美元，并将会创造1300万个新增清洁能源相关职位。
随着能源部门将在营生和能源获取方面扮演越来越重要的角色，确保能源技术与决策人员的多样化和比例分配越趋重要。然而，国际可再生能源机构的研究表明，与全球任何其他行业相比，目前能源从业人 员的性别差距较大，女性仅占全球能源劳动力的20-25％。虽然研究指出多样性将会增强创新和创造力，但公司对促进性别多样性的关注仍然有限。中国的男女工资差距在过去几十年中一直在变小。在2010年，城市女性收入为男性的67.3％，而农村妇女的收入为男性的56％。妇女经常在招聘过程中面临障碍，在工作场所遭受偏见。尤其在农村地区，妇女在获得贷款、技能发展机会和其他生产资源方面都处于不利地位，进而限制了她们的创业机会。改变妇女的弱势地位，以造福于妇女和经济是有可能的。研究表明，增加妇女生产性就业能加快经济增长。同样，2014年“人类发展指数”和“全球性别差距指数” 也证实了两性平等与人均国内生产总值、竞争力水平和人类发展之间的相关性。
改善性别差距好处很多，因此，联合国妇女署与联合国环境规划署一起制定了“可持续能源的女性创业” 的国际项目。该项目促进了带有性别包容性的能源规划和政策，改善了绿色能源部门女企业家获得资金的机会，并促进了妇女对可持续能源的生产性利用。该计划也旨在提高女性可持续能源企业家的技能和知识，确保妇女的安全、无偏见的工作环境，借此提高女性在此行业的参与。在中国，联合国妇女署正在寻求与私营部门的合作机会，采取创新的方法支持并促进女性担任可持续能源领域中的领导者，为自己和社区赋权。作为全球能源的领头羊，在中国的可再生能源行业中纳入性别议题，将是在国内和全球推动性别议题主流化的良机。