Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to (a) ensure gender equality in the COP26 leadership team and (b) facilitate women’s equal participation at COP26.

The UK has committed to championing diversity and inclusion throughout our COP26 Presidency and all civil servants in the Cabinet Office COP26 unit have been appointed in line with civil service guidance and rules. In the COP Unit, 45% of the senior management team in the COP26 unit are women. My Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister recently appointed my Hon. Friend the Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Anne-Marie Treveylan MP) as the COP26 Adaptation and Resilience Champion. Working alongside the COP26 leadership team is a wider global network of around 120 climate and energy Attaches. All ambassadors have a COP26 objective, ensuring that a diverse group of leading diplomats are engaging internationally around COP26.

Visible and diverse leadership is just one part of the picture however. Championing women’s roles as decision-makers, educators and climate leaders is essential if we are to deliver effective, long-term solutions to climate change and ensure that women and girls are empowered as agents of change, including at COP26. This means working closely with civil society, amplifying the voices of those most affected by climate changes and facilitating the meaningful contribution of female negotiators. We see women’s rights organisations, amongst others, as essential partners in effectively tackling climate change and are also supporting a ‘Women Negotiator Mentoring Initiative’ through the European Capacity-building Initiative and our Climate Ambition Support Alliance. This initiative will level the playing field not only in terms of developed and developing countries but also between men and women, ultimately strengthening capacity and professional development of both current and future climate leaders.