The second Thursday of COP29, 21 November, was Gender Day. The conference was drawing to a close, but, at last, a light was shone on the issue of gender equality.

Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) decided to extend the Enhanced Lima Work Programme on Gender for a second decade. Established in 2014, this programme encourages the use of data to actively make climate action – specifically, the work of implementing the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement – gender-balanced. It also provides a roadmap for producing the parties’ new Gender Action Plan, in time for the COP30 summit in Brazil in 2025.

Gender has become a more common issue in climate change-related negotiations in recent years, with 81.5% of UNFCCC signatories mentioning gender in their Nationally Determined Contributions. A consensus is forming around the need to achieve gender equality and women’s participation and empowerment during action on climate change.

However, the renewable energy sector, which is key to the current energy and climate crises, remains dominated by men. In China, though the sector provides a huge number of jobs, the percentage of women in these roles has been falling. They also face various barriers in the sector, including a lack of career progression.

Experts consulted by Dialogue Earth at COP29 say that, despite scant official policy, businesses could nevertheless take action to help reduce gender imbalances, such as disclosing gender data in environmental, social and governance (ESG) reports. These experiences in the business world could then inform government policy.

Renewables: More women needed

The renewables sector is booming. According to a report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the global renewables workforce expanded by 18% in 2023 to 16.2 million jobs, up from 13.7 million in 2022. China is the sector’s biggest employer, accounting for about 7.4 million (46%) of those jobs; almost two-thirds of solar and wind power capacity added globally in 2023 was in China.

On the first day of COP29, China held a side event on women in sustainable development, where a new report from the NGO China Sustainability Tribune, “Insights and Corporate Practices of Women’s Empowerment in Climate Action”, was released. Hu Wenjuan, the editor of the China Sustainability Tribune and one of the report’s authors, told Dialogue Earth that the traditional energy industry has always been dominated by men, and this will be hard to change. But as an emerging industry, renewable energy provides a valuable opportunity to promote gender equality.

According to data from IRENA published in 2019, women accounted for 32% of renewable energy employment globally – better than the energy sector as a whole, at 22%.

The energy sector in China is doing slightly better than the global average: according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics, in 2019, 27.1% of the sector’s employees were women. In March 2024, a report from recruitment website Liepin said 30-35% of employees in China’s renewables sector were women.

Equality beyond numbers

Globally, there is an ever-increasing shortage of “green” talent. This has led to concerns about the speed of the energy transition. The same story is playing out in China: there aren’t enough people with green skills to fill the expanding number of jobs. According to multiple energy company representatives who talked to China’s The Paper in November, this shortage needs to be resolved as soon as possible.

Job opportunities created by the energy transition should benefit both men and women equally, says Anika Heckwolf, a policy fellow working on climate action and international finance at the London School of Economics. She adds: “Women, as half of the global population, are an essential force that cannot be overlooked in the process of the energy transition.”

“What’s critical is identifying the root causes of women’s underrepresentation, and eliminating those barriers to ensure that women have equal access to opportunities” — Anika Heckwolf, a policy fellow working on climate action and international finance at the London School of Economics

But while the percentage of women in the workforce is important, gender equality is not just about aiming for a 50% target, Heckwolf notes: “What’s more critical is identifying the root causes of women’s underrepresentation, and eliminating those barriers to ensure that women have equal access to opportunities.”

It is not simply a matter of overall numbers. The types of jobs women do, and their presence in management roles, are also factors. According to renewable energy sector data from Liepin, technical vacancies, such as those in engineering or research and development, tend to be filled by men. Women commonly fill roles in marketing and human resources departments, which usually pay less.

According to UN Women, women undertake the majority of low-paid, low-skill jobs, and so are at greater risk of losing their jobs. Women in part-time or temporary jobs are often the first to be laid off when companies hit hard times, such as at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic – making them 19% more likely to lose their jobs than men.

Change starts with data

Heckwolf says that at COP28, there was a call to action by UN Women on one very practical matter: the need to improve the gathering and use of gender-disaggregated data, which is crucial for driving and measuring progress. “Without data segmented by gender, taking meaningful action can become more challenging,” she says.

Overall gender balance in the workforce is a standard part of ESG reporting frameworks, and more and more firms are publishing such reports. As such, the availability of gender data from Chinese companies is improving. Yuan Ziqi, an independent consultant and writer, analysed over 1,000 Chinese ESG reports and discovered that, on average, the representation of women was shrinking across the board. In particular, Yuan noted a jump in workforce sizes among solar power firms between 2022 and 2023, yet the percentage of women in the photovoltaic workforce fell – by more than the average.

A requirement was put in place this year for 457 listed firms in China to start ESG reporting by April 2026.

“Statutory disclosures are a start, but the companies should ask what the point of the data is,” says Yuan. The consultant has observed many Chinese firms taking equality in the boardroom more seriously because diversity is more visible there. Some firms have gone further, by starting to separate out gender data into executive, managerial and frontline roles.

LONGi, a multinational solar photovoltaics company headquartered in Xi’an, central China, is one such firm. It publishes detailed gender data on its website, which shows that as of end-2023, 20,000 of its 75,000 employees were female. Women represented 10% of engineers, 20% of senior managers, 21% of junior managers and 25% of “income-generation” roles, such as sales.

Heckwolf notes that while better data is important, data shortfalls do not excuse failure to act.

Chinese firms take action

Promoting gender equality is not just about social responsibility – it can also be profitable. Analysis from the International Labour Organization found that gender balance in the boardroom makes a company “almost 20% more likely to have enhanced business outcomes”. Pilot studies of small- and medium-sized enterprises and clean energy value chains found that an overall gender inclusion strategy can improve sales by up to 85%.

More time is needed to confirm that these findings carry through to actual practice. Molly Huang, secretary general of the Women in Renewables Alliance, tells Dialogue Earth that promoting gender balance relies on awareness and support at the executive level. If the board does not take gender equality seriously, change will not happen on the ground.

At China’s COP29 side event on women in sustainable development, two subsidiaries of China’s State Grid presented their experiences of implementing women-friendly practices. These included setting up women’s committees, encouraging women engineers to take part in innovation, and providing more development opportunities. During her speech, Hu Wenjuan said that, in a fiercely competitive market, more and more firms are keen to showcase the actions they are taking on gender issues, both for reasons of brand marketing and social responsibility.

Another driver is coming from the gender requirements of international projects. For example, a green hydrogen project by the International Hydrogen Fuel Cell Association, funded by the Global Environmental Facility and taking place in China, stipulates that at least 30% of its workforce must be women. External pressures like these may push Chinese firms to take more positive action on gender issues.

Hu points out that firms that are becoming more international must pay attention to how their gender balance reflects their brand image. This also creates more jobs for women, both in China and overseas.

As early as 2018, there have been reports on how Chinese investment in Ethiopia has boosted employment of women and improved their status in many parts of Africa. At the unveiling of the Beijing Action Plan for 2025-2027 during the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), participants reaffirmed China’s industrialisation training support for people across the continent, particularly through capacity-building training for women and youth.

China’s ever-expanding portfolio of overseas renewable energy projects presents a fresh opportunity to promote gender equality. Chinese firms that choose to take the lead on this could go some way to cultivating a just global energy transition.

This article was originally published by China Dialogue with the title How can China’s renewables sector take steps towards achieving gender equality?

The post Can China’s renewables sector achieve gender equality? appeared first on Focus - China Britain Business Council.

In April, China released its draft energy law that aims to regulate, control and reform the energy sector.

“The aim of this law is to reform a sector that is very traditional but is going through a lot of change,” explains Jessica Henry, First secretary for energy policy for the FCO, based in the Embassy in Beijing. “That involves working with some of the large, state-owned enterprises, some of which are keen to stick to their traditional models and are quite reluctant to change. So it needs a gentle and nuanced approach to moving forward that reform effort.

“The lead drafting party on this law is the Ministry of Justice, which shows how seriously they are taking it and how they are convening and managing the different ministries and the input from lots of different interest groups. The Ministry of Justice should be more objective in setting the legal basis for this law which would include ministries not only in charge of energy, but also in charge of everything from the environment to forestry, to the oceans.”

Adds Henry: “It’s very complicated to provide a legal basis for the world’s largest energy consumer and producer.” It is, after all, “quite a big job.”

Indeed it is. Henry, who is responsible for government-to-government relations on energy policy, explains that the bill has been 15 years in the making, with the first draft being published around the same time the National Energy Administration (NEA) was created as a separate energy ministry.

“At that time, it was very short and was more of a declaration than a comprehensive energy law, but has had many revisions since then. In 2017 there was a major revision that took into account technological and market developments over the period. It included context from the Paris 2015 Climate Conference, but also reflections on Xi Jinping’s speech on the four major energy revolutions from 2014, so you could see it become broader and reflect some of the wider political and economic features of the time.”

This latest revision continues to reflect current themes, including energy security and low carbon development as key parts of China’s energy strategy.

One of the reasons it has taken such a long time is because it is trying to keep up with fast-paced technological developments. The cost of renewables has fallen dramatically, and China has become a world leader in renewables and low carbon transport in recent years, so it’s a challenge to update laws as fast as technological developments.

This version is the latest in a draft law that has been open for comments. As of now, there has been no specific timeline laid out for when the draft will actually be turned into law.

As of now, there has been no specific timeline for when the draft will actually be turned into law.

The drafting process is done by officials from various different ministries who work with research institutes and academic experts. Having drafted the law, there was a period until May 9^th during which people could comment on this law either directly, informally or through trade and lobbying organisations.

What does the law include?

The law focuses heavily on plans to open up, reform and liberalise the energy sector in China. Foreign investment will be welcomed into the sector, which has traditionally been dominated by state-owned enterprises. Allowing foreign investment into the market will not only allow foreign companies to compete, but will also force Chinese companies to become more competitive.

“It is welcome that the draft law is to reform the energy sector and lower investment barriers,” says Dr Zhi Shengke, director of strategy and development at energy company Wood Plc. “British companies such as BP, Shell and Wood can take advantage of China’s energy market reform and introduce various technologies and engineering solutions to the sector. Meanwhile, this draft law delivers a clear message that the Chinese energy sector won’t just focus on energy security and energy transition, but also invest more on decarbonisation and digital solution. The government is sending a clear signal to domestic companies that they need to be more competitive in terms of technology and digital.”

“There is a welcome focus on low carbon development,” adds Henry. “There are new measures to monitor emissions and limit environmental damage and to promote low carbon technologies, including renewables. There is also a welcome focus on continuing market reform making markets more open and more competitive,” she says.

“However I think there are still a few areas that need more detail. At the moment the draft is still quite high-level and we’d like to see a bit more detail on how markets will be regulated, and the enforcement mechanisms for those,” she says.

But overall the law, “is about creating a more open, transparent, competitive market so that (both Chinese and international) private companies are able to compete with state-owned enterprises on more of a fair basis. State owned enterprises are going to have to make improvements if they are going to keep competing with private companies.”

What does it mean for British business and intergovernmental collaboration?

“This could be the start of the transformation,” says Dr Zhi. “A rapid energy transition is happening due to the impact of COVID-19, environmental pressure and the development of digital and decarbonisation technology. China is positioning to be a dynamic energy market, which is attractive to foreign investment.

“Over the last decade, many international oil companies, chemical companies and engineering companies have invested in the China market. Lower trading barriers means that cost benefits from using the latest technologies and supply chain are less constrained.  Hence, more low carbon technologies could be brought into the Chinese energy industry.

“In China, the overall energy demand is still growing but the energy production predominantly relies on coal for power generation, as it’s low cost and plentiful. It is delightful to notice that the energy law is to spearhead and develop decarbonisation technology and digital technology to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions while meeting developing nation’s growing needs for energy. I look forward to the transformation led by Chinese SOEs,” says Zhi.

Matt Ashworth, commercial counsellor for energy and infrastructure at the Department for International Trade (DIT) explains that new marketisation opportunities will arise for competitive businesses who are able to bring in international expertise and find collaborative projects.

“We have a lot of strong relationships in the energy sector between UK and China from large multinationals to SMEs,” he says. Companies like BP and Shell have been taking advantage of some of the opening up and the relaxation in terms of foreign investment into retail oil and gas markets,” he explains. “Both BP and Shell will be opening petrol stations in parts of China and both are actively looking at expanding their operations.

“Then you have new energy opportunities. Offshore wind is a key area of strength in the UK.” There are many major offshore wind programmes planned in China, Ashworth points out, and the UK has world-beating technology in this area. There have been some great examples of collaboration already.

For example a UK-China joint centre on offshore renewable energy has been established in Yantai, Shandong province in a collaboration between the UK’s Renewable Energy Catapult and TusPark, anchoring the relationship in science, innovation and trade as well.

“There are lots of opportunities on energy transition, not just from offshore wind, but other aspects of renewables, including energy storage and how that is transmitted and connected to the grid. Areas we have a lot of experience and expertise in, which we can share with China,” says Ashworth.

“Our strategy has a high alignment focusing on decarbonisation, energy transition and digitisation, including connected design, connected work and connected operation into China,” says Dr Zhi. “We are in discussion with one of our clients about how to digitise their large scale complex asset. We also believe there is a huge potential for offshore wind and floating wind in China. Therefore, the transformation for the Chinese energy industry is a welcome change as it is highly aligned with our expertise.”

Ashworth goes on to explain that there are many other interesting areas of innovation that the DIT are keen to watch develop, including a collaboration between BP and Chinese ride-sharing company Didi on electric vehicle charging stations in Guangdong.

Britain is a global leader in renewable and wind farm technologies

Another key UK strength is building a strong regulatory environment that creates certainty for investors and also being very open to international investment, explains Henry. “It goes both ways – it’s not just about the UK exporting to China but about the role that China can play in the UK’s own energy infrastructure. So whether that’s major projects like Hinkley Point C and the nuclear sector or investment into North Sea oil and gas, into offshore wind – there is a very healthy two-way relationship there on trade and investment, which underlines how much collaboration there is between the two countries that plays to our mutual strengths.”

“We have a lot of different types of collaboration, whether that’s science and innovation, or early-stage research; on policies and regulation and providing the right framework for investment into clean technologies; or on the DIT commercial side. It’s a broad range of collaborations, not just in Beijing but in all consulates (Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chongqing and Wuhan). Given that the UK has so many strengths on low carbon energy and China is also a global leader on low carbon energy, it’s a natural area for practical collaboration.”

International collaboration

The law also included a plan to set up a ‘cross-nation energy information service system,’ which will hopefully see China becoming more involved in international cooperation platforms and committing to open markets and foreign competition:

“Article 89 says that the energy department will establish an information platform for international energy cooperation,” says Henry. Our first response is to say that this seems to be a positive step and we would love to have more data transparency around how China engages internationally. It looks like a great initiative and if they are open to working with others on the platform then we would be interested to work with the Chinese government.”

However, according to Dr Zhi from Wood, there are still obstacles that could make collaboration difficult. “Cybersecurity is one of the hot topics in the energy industry in China. More and more, clients are required to keep their project data and engineering data in China, which is a challenge to international companies like Wood. A mega project normally requires global assistance, meaning project data often flies through systems that are located in multiple countries. If the data must remain within the Chinese border, it will take more time and push a higher budget.”

Dr Zhi also says that it is vital for China to think about how to retain the total values that can benefit social and economic development, contribute to the national capability, and stimulate productivity of local economy when more inbound investments come: “In-country values could help China to further develop its supply chain and benefit local communities.”

Britain has stringent long-term targets such as the legal commitment to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Although China doesn’t have a net-zero target, it does have Nationally Determined Contributions under the UN climate change agreement, which fulfil medium-term contributions.

“The value of a long term net-zero target is something we are talking to China about as part of our wider climate change collaboration,” says Henry. “There’s some very positive activity at the sub-national level, with some cities and regions adopting very ambitious targets and plans for low carbon development. This draft law doesn’t include a net-zero target, but the focus on low carbon development and measures to integrate renewables integration and greater use of clean technology does lay the foundation for moving towards this in the future, so that’s really positive.”

Finally, Ashworth is keen to point out that this law is just a draft, and that ultimately, we will have to see how it is implemented and how it might work in practice:

“There’s a lot of interest in what it might mean for the next stage in terms of goods and services that we might be able to provide, and business environment or market access issues. And that’s what we (DIT) are here to help with,” he says.

The post What does China’s new draft energy law actually mean? appeared first on Focus - China Britain Business Council.