Heat, floods, fires and storms are already disrupting economies, infrastructure and supply chains. Meanwhile, many of the technologies needed to tackle climate change are becoming cheaper and scaling rapidly. The challenge now is getting solutions deployed - at speed, under economic pressure and amid political disruption.

The next phase of the transition depends on governments, companies, investors and communities working together.

It will be won through thousands of practical decisions - where grids are built, how industry is supported to change, how capital is mobilised, how communities are protected from physical climate risks, and how people are brought with us. That requires leaders who can build coalitions, bridge competing interests and keep progress moving through uncertainty.

Decades of leadership research suggest that women are frequently associated with participative, relationship-oriented approaches. At a moment when climate progress increasingly depends on cooperation rather than command, failing to make full use of that leadership is not only a question of representation - it is a question of effectiveness.

A 2026 study of closely fought mayoral elections in Brazil found that female-led municipalities had lower greenhouse-gas emissions, driven in large part by reduced deforestation in the Amazon, while maintaining levels of local economic activity. Earlier cross-country research also found that greater female representation in national parliaments was linked to stronger climate policy and lower carbon emissions.

The pattern also appears in business. A 2024 study covering nearly 10,000 firms across 50 countries found that increases in female board representation following gender-diversity reforms were associated with reductions in both direct and indirect corporate carbon emissions . The effect was stronger where reforms were legally binding and became more pronounced after the Paris Agreement.

None of this means that appointing a woman automatically produces better environmental decisions. It does suggest that who holds power can influence how institutions respond to climate change.

Women shaping the transition

In Spain, Sara Aagesen, Third Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, is driving a national adaptation programme with 176 measures spanning heat, floods, drought, infrastructure and cities, while accelerating major investment in electrification and clean energy. In the UK, Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh is putting affordability and public benefit at the centre of the transition, pushing for clean power to translate into benefits people can see in their homes and energy bills.

In the Netherlands, Climate and Green Growth Minister Stientje van Veldhoven is bringing energy and industrial policy together - advancing industrial decarbonisation, offshore wind , circularity and district heating as parts of a green-growth agenda. At Danish biotechnology company Novonesis, CEO Ester Baiget is expanding the use of biological technologies that can reduce reliance on fossil-based materials, chemicals and energy.

These women are pulling different levers - public policy, industrial strategy, technology and business investment - but the transition succeeds only when those efforts reinforce one another.

That is vital because climate policy has to survive changes of government, economic downturns and geopolitical shocks. Companies need confidence that policy will endure long enough to justify investment, and governments need confidence that business will respond when they create the right conditions.

Women Leading on Climate brings together more than 1,000 women across more than 35 countries, spanning government, business and civil society. Many already sit in the rooms where consequential decisions are being made. Representation remains part of the mission, but it is not the end point. The opportunity is to connect the influence women already hold across different institutions and geographies, so that a policymaker, business leader, investor or civil-society leader acting alone can become part of a coalition capable of moving an issue forward.

From representation to influence

The origins of Women Leading on Climate offer a glimpse of what that can look like. When the original COP29 organising committee was announced without a single woman, 100 women leaders from business, policy and civil society came together to challenge the decision. Within days the committee was expanded to include 12 women. The immediate issue was representation, but the lesson was more profound: women holding different forms of influence, across different institutions, could act together and change an outcome. The next challenge is to apply that same collective influence not only to who sits at the table, but to the decisions being made around it.

At Climate Week NYC, Women Leading on Climate will explore where acting together can make a tangible difference - unlocking investment, accelerating deployment, strengthening policy certainty and ensuring climate solutions work for the economies and communities expected to adopt them.

The next phase of the network should be measured not simply by how many women it connects, but by what those connections enable.