Gender equality and the European Green Deal’s Socially Fair Transition – a thematic focus of the Gender Equality Index 2023

The study aimed to describe the impacts of the green transition from a gender and intersectional perspective. It also focused on raising awareness among policy-makers on integrating a gender perspective into public policies, especially those delivering on the European Green Deal. Next to broader trends, the study put emphasis on two critical green transition areas: energy and transport.
Based on a literature review and policy analysis, the research team first developed a conceptual framework, establishing links between climate change, green transition and gender equality. Second, we produced two comprehensive study reports, one focusing on transport and the other on energy. Both reports were based on a literature review, policy analysis, and statistical data analysis (including using the Eurostat microdata). The report on transport presented gender equality issues in transport use, employment and decision-making in the context of the green transition from an intersectional perspective. Similarly, the energy report showed the multifaceted gender and intersectional inequalities in energy use and consumption, employment and decision-making in the energy sector. Both reports also addressed the challenges and opportunities for gender equality in the context of digital and green transitions.
Finally, we produced a final report presenting key gender and intersectional issues relevant to decarbonising transport and energy, notably in energy and transport use, decision-making and labour markets. The final report also assessed selected EU and Member State interventions pertinent to the European Green Deal from a gender and intersectional perspective. It provided an analysis of the integration of a gender perspective into key EU policies and strategic documents on energy transition and transport. It also examined to what extent gender equality considerations were taken into account in the National Energy and Climate Plans and Recovery and Resilience Plans. Lastly, the report outlined the possibilities of measuring socially-fair transition under the European Green Deal from a gender perspective, including a proposed set of indicators.
The findings of this study contribute to the thematic focus of EIGE's 2023 Gender Equality Index report.