About this report
Increasing climate change is leading to extreme heat, flooding, and droughts. Weather extremes are the main driver of hunger in 18 countries where 72 million people are facing acute climate change. In CARE’s research with women, four out of the five main crises women reported in 2023 were linked to climate and extreme weather.
The impacts of climate change are also profoundly unequal. Floods widen the income gap between the poorest people and less poor people by $21 billion a year. Climate change causes women to work 55 more minutes a week than men, and raises the amount of time children work by 49 minutes every week—adding to women’s already higher unpaid care burden. Heat stress and flooding widen the income gap between men and women by $53 billion every year. That’s an enormous amount. In 2024, 95 countries have GDPs lower than $50 billion.
The world is investing far too little in helping people cope with climate change—with only 7.5% of global climate funding going towards adaptation, and about $10 billion targeted to reach small scale producers. Globally, we’re not investing money in the right places because we’re not asking the right people about climate solutions. If we want to curb the impacts of climate change—and reduce climate change in the future—we have to look at the impacts who are already experiencing the most severe climate change effects.
Top crises women are reporting:
- Food insecurity
- Lack of clean water
- Conflict
- Drought
- Pests destroying crops