Call to Action “Empowering Youth and Women to Accelerate the Clean Energy Transition”

On 12 and 13 January 2021, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), in collaboration with the Vienna Energy Forum (VEF) partners, the Global Women Network for the Energy Transition (GWNET) and the SDG7 Youth Constituency (SDG7 YC), convened an expert dialogue with specialists from governments, development cooperation agencies, donors, academia, the private sector and civil society. Experts and representatives discussed how to break the barriers and unlock the opportunities for women and youth. Discussants recommended to build adequate skills and develop a conducive environment that supports progress and avenues to fully utilize the potential of women and youth to contribute to the clean energy transition.

The full and active engagement and leadership of women and youth is central to the achievement of the clean energy transition and the advancement of sustainable development. Therefore, the partners call on organizations, governments, private sector, academia and civil society to take urgent action to ensure that the transition is not only fair and equally accessible to all women and men, girls and boys but that it is also led by women and youth.

More specifically, the partners call for actions to:

Bridge the education gap
Bridge the gender digital divide
Enhance engagement and career advancement avenues
Inclusive Policies
Responsible investments and procurement
Ownership of assets
Social norms
Results accounting and monitoring

Read the full Call to Action here.

The partners will work to build on the session outcomes and the call to action and develop a campaign with specific targets and an associated target framework. The campaign will be launched at the Vienna Energy Forum in July 2021. All governments, organizations and individuals wanting to contribute to the campaign are invited to write to VEF@unido.org