Gender Responsive Projects in Cooling

The Refrigeration, Air-Conditioning, and Heat-pumps sector (RACHP) has an increasing role in ensuring sustainable livelihoods, including safe access to food and health. There is an increasing demand for engineers and technicians in the profession. 

Therefore, there is a need to attract the young generation into the industry, promoting access for women. Currently, women in the sector are disproportionately underrepresented across all activities, with participation ranging from 8-30% in different regions of the world. In this context, the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) is hosting a webinar series to raise awareness of these issues. 

Purpose and Objectives 

1. Raise awareness on gender-based vulnerabilities related to access to cooling in the context of climate change.

2. Explore solutions for mainstreaming gender equality into policies and investment for sustainable cooling.

3. Highlight actionable steps and successful case studies from the MLF and other funding mechanisms that demonstrate gender-transformative approaches to cooling.

4. Discuss opportunities for countries to engage in CCAC’s 2025 EOI to reduce short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) through gender-sensitive cooling projects.

This webinar is part of CCAC Webinar Series for Gender Mainstreaming. For climate and clean air initiatives to succeed, women and girls who are disproportionately impacted must be at the core of solutions. At COP27, the CCAC launched its first Gender Strategy with the aim of mainstreaming gender considerations into every area of its work. 

This new webinar series will tackle one SLCP sector at a time, breaking down key gender considerations and opportunities to develop better, more sustainable plans and policies in discussion with sector and gender experts, NGOs, and country partners. 

This series also seeks to inform and inspire implementers or potential implementers of CCAC-funded projects on opportunities to develop gender-responsive projects, a requirement of CCAC funding as of 2023.

AGENDA 

 
SPEAKERS 

    
Rossana Del Carmen Silva-Repetto

Rossana Silva Repetto is the Deputy Chief Officer of the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol. Previously, she served as the first Executive Secretary of the Minamata Convention on Mercury, where she established the Secretariat and successfully organized two COPs. With extensive experience at UNEP, she held roles such as Senior Legal Adviser, Regional Seas Programme Legal Adviser, and Latin America and Caribbean Environmental Law Programme Coordinator. Rossana also worked at FAO on legal frameworks for hazardous chemicals and pesticides, and served as a professor and adviser in Peru. She holds law and political science degrees from the University of Lima, a Master’s in Law from the University of Leuven, and a Master’s from the Alcide de Gasperi Post-graduate Institute.

Bettina Schreck 

Bettina Schreck is an independent consultant specializing in environmental sustainability and affiliated with HEAT GmbH. She served as a Programme Officer at UNIDO from 2009 to 2023, managing energy, climate change, and environmental projects, and was appointed Gender Officer in 2022. Certified as a Gender Auditor by the ILO in 2023, Bettina previously worked in the private energy sector with ESBI in Ireland and Repsol in Spain. She holds a Chemical Engineering degree from the Technological Institute of Buenos Aires and a Master’s in Sustainable Development from the University of Cambridge.

Giorgia Pasqualetto

Senior Officer, Energy Efficiency and Cooling, Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL). She has co-led  the analysis and production in the 2023 Chilling Prospects Special report on Cooling and Gender. Giorgia is a sustainable energy and international development professional, with over 8 years of experience. Prior to joining SEforALL, she worked in strategic planning and engagement with the G20 at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and consulted in programmes promoting industrial energy efficiency in Latin American and Eastern European countries. Giorgia has a background in energy engineering and energy policy.