: Ms. Minninger, women and children die more often than men in natural disasters. Is the climate crisis sexist?
Sabine Minninger: Yes, it is even highly sexist. Or better: The society that causes the climate crisis and responds to its consequences is sexist. Women are disadvantaged due to social constructs – also in the climate crisis.
: How does gender inequality manifest?
Minninger: One might think that in a storm or flood, men would be swept away just as much as women. But the reality is that women more often have to ensure that children, the home, and livelihoods are placed in safety during disasters, rather than looking out for themselves. Where women are pushed into domestic roles, they also often have less access to warning systems. In shelters designed to provide protection during extreme weather events like cyclones, there are repeatedly reports of sexualized violence up to and including rape that women are subjected to. I could name many more examples.
: You focus particularly on countries in the Global South with regard to how climate protection, climate adaptation, and dealing with damages and losses from the climate crisis can succeed. Germany, with its historically high CO2-footprint, has an international legal obligation to provide support. Does gender equality play a role in German development policy?
Minninger: Unfortunately far too little. We examine this every year in our Adaptation Index. It looks at how much money industrialized countries pay for climate adaptation in poor countries and how fairly it is distributed. One result of the 2025 Index was: in providing money for gender-sensitive projects, from 2016 to 2022 Canada, Luxembourg, Iceland and the USA under Joe Biden led the field. Germany is only mid-field, just like the entire European Union. By the way, not only the donor countries deprioritize the issue enough, but also the recipient countries. We see this, for example, in Jamaica, Eritrea, Angola, Lesotho, the Dominican Republic, Chad. If you look at what percentage of the funds actually goes into projects that focus on the needs of women, you quickly end up at 0.1 percent or less.
In the interview: Sabine Minninger
is a climate policy adviser at the Protestant aid organization Bread for the World.
: In der Ampelregierung wollten Außenministerin Annalena Baerbock (Grüne) und Entwicklungsministerin Svenja Schulze (SPD) ausdrücklich feministische Politik machen. Hat man das praktisch gemerkt?
Minninger: Yes. As a civil society representative, I participate every year in the world climate conferences where the United Nations negotiates climate protection at the international level. Annalena Baerbock and Svenja Schulze have lobbied for the topic there. There was no need for us as civil society to first explain to the German negotiating leadership what it’s about.
Zum feministischen Kampftag am 8. März wird die wochen zur feminis. Während Rechte von Frauen, trans, inter und nichtbinären Personen weltweit angegriffen und zurückgedreht werden, fragt die Ausgabe, was gegen Ohnmacht und Ratlosigkeit helfen kann. Unsere Antwort: Solidarität. Auf 52 Seiten zeigt die feminis, wie Solidarität im Großen wie im Kleinen gelebt wird. Auch auf .de wird das Thema vier Tage lang begleitet. Das ganze Editorial können Sie hier lesen.
: And how have your experiences been so far with Schwarz-Rot?
Minninger: Such a government never completely changes its personnel. The negotiation teams at the climate conferences comprise not only top politicians but many experts and diplomats. Many of them stayed. And there the significance that women and gender topics had during the traffic-light government left traces. Once awareness has been broadened, it’s hard to take it back. I hope this is also reflected in the figures for financing climate projects.
