The role of women in the decarbonization path

di Emanuele Cazzola, Università LUISS Guido Carli Roma

DOI 10.12910/EAI2018-046

Gender equality is a fundamental condition to achieve a just and efficient transition to a low-carbon economy. A successful inclusion of women in the sector means achieving greater diversity and complementarity as well as expanding the pool of talent to better address the demand for skills. In more advanced economies, actions addressing the existent gender gap in education are needed in order to exploit the employment potential of the clean energy sector. Although varying along with differences in socio-economic and cultural settings, there are specific opportunities for women in developing countries as well

To this date, women continue to be an underutilised source of value in the vast majority of countries and sectors of the economy worldwide. This severely hinders the development capabilities of each country for it reduces the size of their pool of talent and consequently the possibility to satisfy the demand for skills. The lack of integration of women in the economic sector in general is a cost that in Italy reaches around 7% of GDP, according to Banca d’Italia. Even more, in the transition to a low-carbon economy, the participation of women can be understood as a necessary condition of success. In fact, such enormous task entails a transformation of society that will not be accomplished without the full participation of all its members. Hence, equal opportunities for both sexes to participate to the process, as well as to benefit from its positive socio-economic impacts, need to be ensured. This is specifically relevant in the energy sector in general, as it is key to a successful transition to a low-carbon economy.

Alas, we are far from reaching full gender-equality and the renewable energy sector is one of the least gender-balanced to date. However, efforts to promote gender-equality are experiencing a positive momentum worldwide. It was within this thrust that ENEA, in collaboration with IEA and Clean Energy Education and Empowerment (C3E) Technology Collaboration Programmes (TCP), organized ‘Knowledge Building on Women in Clean Energy’, on 11^th April 2018. …