Women play ‘crucial role’ in green economy, ACCA finds

Women have a “crucial role” to play in the green economy, ACCA has revealed following International Women’s Day last week.

The global accountancy body has said to be concerned that women are in danger of being left behind in the green transition. 

As such, ACCA is calling on governments, policy makers and employers to make a reality of the 2024 UN IWD theme ‘Invest in women: accelerate progress’.

ACCA has highlighted that 80% of people displaced by climate change are women and women are 14 times more likely to die in climate emergencies than men. And UN data shows how women led households lose 8% more income to heat-stress than male led households.

Emmeline Skelton, head of Sustainability, ACCA, said: “Women work extensively in sectors such as agriculture where they are disproportionately exposed to climate-related events. On the other hand, they are underrepresented in sectors that are benefitting from the transition to net zero such as construction, utilities and manufacturing. This imbalance needs to be urgently addressed. 

“ACCA research shows that transition planning is not perceived as a high priority on our members agenda even though there is a climate emergency. Nearly 70% of respondents did not have an emissions plan and had no intent to or urgency to develop one.”

Skelton continued: “Further ACCA research highlights organisations are only starting to recognise the complexity of the social agenda and how this impacts the different elements of society. Effective transition planning recognises the need to address societal injustices as a core component of the drive to a net zero economy.”

ACCA is working on this inequality through its focus on gender responsive budgeting (GRB), which measures impacts of gender inequality and mitigates them through targeted policies and budgets. 

Jessica Bingham, regional lead, policy and insights – EEMA and UK, said: “Gender responsive budgeting can help to identify and address differences by allocating resources to help resilience building. Women often leave the workplace to fulfil unpaid caring responsibilities. In many areas of the globe work and employment issues are exacerbated by climate change where women have limited access to resources, loss of livelihood and food insecurity.”

The accountancy profession is not immune to these issues. Women leave the profession at a much higher rate than men. In large accountancy firms, estimates suggest around 60% of the graduate intake are women, but that figure falls to an estimated 20% – 30% at manager level.

ACCA is working specifically with public sector finance professionals to understand how gender responsive budgeting could be used to address the widening gender gap. 

Skelton added: “In order to make progress we need to look at these issues from a holistic perspective. That is why ACCA supports the UN Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) addressing gender, poverty and inequality.”