CED worked on a UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and UN Women project titled “EmPower: Women for Climate Resilient Societies”. CED developed women’s energy entrepreneurship training modules and online courses for the project, which was implemented by UNEP and UN Women. The project aimed to contribute to the overall outcome of ‘Countries in Asia and the Pacific Implementing Gender-Responsive Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Actions to address key drivers of Gender-Based Vulnerabilities’. The project was implemented in Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Vietnam, with regional-level activities in Asia-Pacific supporting increased gender responsiveness to climate change and disaster risk reduction in the region. Additionally, the project supported member states in fulfilling commitments to the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 5 on gender equality, SDG 7 on Energy, and SDG 12 on Climate Action.

The project achieved these outcomes through the following goals: women’s groups led, participated in, and influenced climate change and DRR decision-making processes; governments and key stakeholders generated, analyzed, and used sex, age, and diversity disaggregated data to inform climate change and disaster risks and actions; national climate change and DRR policymakers integrated and enhanced responsiveness to gender equality commitments; women used renewable energies to improve climate-resilient livelihoods; incorporation of gender equality and human rights perspectives in regional and policy frameworks on climate change and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR).