Empowering Women in Climate Technology

Written by Liz Harney 

Growing concerns around climate change have taken center stage in recent years. No industry is exempt from feeling the impacts of climate change and consumer’s call for more sustainable and climate-positive products. At first consideration, it may seem the overlap between tech and climate mitigation strategies don’t exist; however, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Over the last six years, venture capital investments for climate technology have reached $56 billion in the US alone. Disappointingly, only a small fraction of that funding went to women-led climate technology projects. An assessment in 2020 showed that only 2.3% of venture capital funding went to women-led ventures. 

Women’s Role in Climate Change Mitigation

In order to mitigate the effects of climate change, we need every innovative technology and technologist at the table, especially women technologists. Women, girls, and communities of color and low income are most affected by climate change and experience the effects disproportionately. However, women are crucial to finding solutions and need to be at the forefront of this wave of climate tech. A 2019 study found that women in leadership positions lead countries to adopt more strict climate change policies, in turn, lowering emissions. Empowering women in climate tech has a real quantitative impact on climate mitigation. According to Project Drawdown, equipping women and girls with education and resources could prevent 120 billion tons of emissions by 2050. 

Women in Climate Technology 

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) made an announcement in 2022 in order to funnel more funding to women entrepreneurs in climate tech. They partnered with Amazon to commit $53 million to support women’s climate innovation and invest in climate tech companies that are run by women. Kara Hurst, Vice President of Worldwide Sustainability at Amazon said, “As an important step in solving climate change, we must address the gender inequalities that persist in climate finance, and ensure female entrepreneurs have an equal seat at the table and access to the funding, networks, and technical support they need to scale climate solutions.” This is a welcomed investment opportunity and  step in the right direction, however, globally, women still need more access to funds to support their climate tech projects. 

Despite these challenges, women technologists are making huge strides in climate mitigation tech. To name a few:

• Maria Eugenia Filmanovic is the Co-Founder of Abatable, a platform founded in 2021 that assists companies in purchasing carbon credits from global climate projects. 

• Annalee Bloomfield is the CEO of Sustain.life, a sustainability management software for businesses to measure their environmental impact and reduce their carbon footprint.

• Sandeep Ahuja is the CEO and CO-Founder of Cove.Tool, a cloud-based network of tools to support sustainable development for architects, manufacturers, and engineers. 

These are only a few of the technologists taking on the complex climate change issue with innovative climate tech solutions. The time to take action is now, women technologists have stepped up and continue to use their skills and resources to design and implement technology to mitigate the effects of climate change.