Guest Post: Propelling the Energy Transition by Empowering Women and Youth

Across the globe, governments, companies and stake-holders at large are strategizing on how to revitalize the economy after the severe impact of Covid19 which – according to a study for the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIS) – wiped out progress of several years for high-, middle- and low-income countries alike[1]  and according to the UN’s stocktaking on Agenda 2030,  inflicted serious set-backs in the global pursuit of practically all the SDGs.[2]

Many countries include in their economic recovery packages boosts to their climate change and energy transition strategies. This is far-sighted since the very real threats of climate change will continue to loom large once the virus has long been tamed by effective international cooperation, prevention, vaccines and treatment protocols.

At GWNET (Global Women’s Network for the Energy Transition, www.globalwomennet.org), we are convinced that energy transitions are much more than “just” switching from one (polluting/fossil) fuel to another (cleaner/greener) renewable one. Energy transitions entail deep societal transformations and as such they need to draw on all available talent.

Sadly, women are currently severely under-represented in sustainable energy, in all geographic regions and in all sub-sectors[3]. GWNET is supporting women who already work in sustainable energy through mentoring and networking, especially through the Women Expert in Energy Platform where more than 1500 international women have already registered their particular expertise and interest. We also advocate to making sustainable energy more inclusive and diverse.

We are therefore delighted to be a co-sponsor of the Vienna Energy Forum’s Call to Action on “Empowering women and youth to accelerate the clean energy transition”. The Call to Action was launched in January during the VEF Virtual Series which builds up momentum for the next edition of the bi-annual Vienna Energy Forum (6-7 July 2021, https://www.viennaenergyforum.org ).

In its introductory part the Call to Action states: “Although women and youth have a critical role to play, they continue to face numerous similar but distinct challenges. Inequalities and discrimination faced by women and youth prevent them from realizing their full potential as agents of change and hinder progress at the right speed and scale.”

The Call to Action urges all stake-holders to take concrete steps to

• Bridge the education gap
• Bridge the gender divide
• Ensure equal ownership of assets
• Promote responsible investments and procurements
• Enhance engagement and career advancement avenues
• Change social norms
• Develop inclusive policies and
• Implement results accounting and monitoring.

The full text of the Call can be found at the VEF web-site (www.viennaenergyforum.org/call-action) and at the web-sites of the sponsors who support UNIDO’s drive in this respect, namely the Austrian Foreign Ministry and the Austrian Development Agency, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), the SDG7 Youth Constituency and GWNET (e.g. https://www.globalwomennet.org/call-to-action-empowering-women-and-youth-to-accelerate-the-clean-energy-transition/) .

I should like to invite all stake-holders to select one or two concrete measures they determine to take in one of the seven fields of the Call to Action and to report on what they have done by the time we come together – hopefully in person – at the VEF.

And as we all do that, let us remember that women and youth are not minorities on our planet. Let us imagine the change that will become possible once we fully draw on the potential available to humanity in the life experience, innovation and passion of women and youth ! And let us not delay freeing up this potential any longer!

Irene Giner-Reichl has been a member of the Austrian Diplomatic Service since 1982. Her main area of expertise is economic and social development, women’s rights’ issues, environment, energy, and development cooperation. She has held numerous international bureau functions. From 1995 to 1998 she was the director of the international department of the Austrian Ministry for the Environment. From 1998 to 2001 she was Austria’s Permanent Representative to the UN, IAEA, UNIDO and CTBTO in Vienna. From 2001 to 2004 she headed the UNIDO Office in New York in the rank of an Assistant Director General. From 2005 to 2012 she was in charge of Austria’s development policy and cooperation as Director General in the Ministry for European and International Affairs. From January 2012 to 2017 she was the Austrian Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China and Mongolia. Since July 2017 she is the Austrian Ambassador to the Federative Republic of Brazil.

Irene Giner-Reichl founded the Global Forum on Sustainable Energy (GFSE) in 1999 as a multi-stake-holder platform for dialogues on energy in the service of sustainable development and acted as Convenor for the GFSE’s global and regional meetings (www.gfse.at ). Since 2013 she is Vice-President of the REN 21 Steering Committee. (www.ren21.net ) and since 2017 founder and president of the Global Women’s Network for the Energy Transition (www.globalwomennet.org ).