Editorial

The climate crisis is fundamentally reshaping our economies, societies, and futures, but its impacts are not felt equally. As the global community seeks more equitable, effective, and lasting solutions to climate change, understanding its gendered dimensions is no longer optional; it is essential. This focus issue of Environmental Research: Climate brings together a wide range of interdisciplinary contributions that explore the nexus of gender and climate change. As guest editors, we are honored to present a collection that spans diverse geographies, methods, and policy domains, unified by a shared commitment to gender-responsive climate action. We write this editorial at a time marked by overlapping global crises. Climate change is accelerating, and its socioeconomic consequences are deepening existing inequalities. At the same time, slow progress in achieving gender equality continues to compound these effects, particularly for women in low—and middle-income countries. The articles in this issue offer rigorous, field-based, and policy-relevant evidence on the intersection of gender inequality and climate change and how these dual challenges can be addressed together. This collection builds on the growing recognition in global policy forums—such as the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report and UNFCCC Gender Action Plans—that the gender-climate nexus is central to effective and just adaptation. Yet, peer-reviewed research on the gender-climate nexus remains limited, particularly for the Global South. By bringing together empirically grounded and thematically wide-ranging research—from labor markets and social protection to political participation and knowledge systems, this focus issue provides one of the most comprehensive examinations to date of how gender and climate change intersect in climate-vulnerable regions across the Global South.

Link to all articles in this issue of Environmental Research Climate