Advocating for women’s leadership in clean energy entrepreneurship

COP23, the UN Climate Change Conference taking place in Bonn, Germany, right now is coming to a close tomorrow, but one interesting theme is emerging from the talks, and that is the central role of women in clean energy entrepreneurship to help address climate change. There are 2.7 billion people in the world that still rely on biomass (firewood, charcoal and animal waste) for cooking, lighting, and heating, many of whom live in Africa. Exposure to smoke from these traditional biomass-based cookstoves and open fires causes over 4 million premature deaths every year, the majority being women and young children as they do the cooking in their homes. The Partnership on Women’s Entrepreneurship in Renewables (wPOWER) advocates for the direct involvement of women as entrepreneurs, innovators, decision-makers, and policy practitioners to be part of the solution to change things for the better. wPOWER has empowered a world-wide network of over 5,500 women clean energy entrepreneurs who work in rural underserved areas. This has significantly enhanced outreach, and enabled greater and easier access of clean energy information, solution and products to rural communities. wPOWER attributes its success to its unique model of operation comprising of three key pillars: Building evidence, sharing best practices, and advocating for women’s leadership in clean energy entrepreneurship.