Climate Gender Equity Fund (CGEF)

Women and girls are powerful change agents in designing and leading climate solutions for their communities–women are innovators, leaders, entrepreneurs, workers, and customers in climate-related fields. Women and girls, especially from underrepresented and marginalized groups, are also disproportionately affected by natural and climate disasters given that they represent the majority of the world’s poor and are proportionally more dependent upon threatened natural resources. Yet, in the broader climate finance ecosystem, gender equity is often poorly integrated or not incorporated at all. While climate finance flows amounted to more than $600 billion in 2021, only 2 percent integrated a gender lens–a huge shortfall in the finance needed to catalyze inclusive climate-related solutions

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), with support from Amazon, launched the Climate Gender Equity Fund (CGEF) to catalyze gender equity in climate finance around the world. CGEF is an innovative public-private partnership led by USAID that seeks to increase access to climate finance for gender-responsive, women-led, and women-benefiting organizations.

In its first year, CGEF raised over $20 million and welcomed founding partners Reckitt, The UPS Foundation, and the Visa Foundation alongside USAID and Amazon. CGEF’s grantmaking is managed by 2X Global, an international non-profit membership organization and the leading global industry body working at the nexus of climate and gender finance. CGEF is also one of the first major activities under USAID’s Climate Finance for Development Accelerator, a $250 million initiative designed to mobilize $2.5 billion in public and private climate investments by 2030. 

Explore CGEF funding opportunities here. 

Founding Members:

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CGEF is an activity under USAID’s Climate Finance for Development Accelerator (CFDA), a $250 million initiative designed to mobilize $2.5 billion in public and private climate actions and investments by 2030. To receive updates and partnership opportunities regarding CGEF, please join the Climate Finance Investment Network (CFIN) or reach out to CGEFinfo@CFDAccelerator.com. Please note that all requests for proposals (RFPs) under CGEF are managed directly by 2X Global, and thus all questions on RFPs should be directed to 2X Global per the instructions on their website.