The Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) is calling on world leaders, financial institutions, and corporations to act urgently on climate change.

The group is demanding new policies that match the scale of the growing climate and social crises facing the world.

WECAN made the call during the opening day of the Global Women’s Assembly for Climate Justice: Path to COP30 and Beyond, a virtual event bringing together over 125 women leaders from 50 countries.

The assembly features policymakers, government officials, and community activists working together to find just and effective climate solutions.

The main message from WECAN and its partners is that the world must stop fossil fuel extraction, end deforestation, and support women’s leadership and gender equity in climate policy.

WECAN’s Founder and Executive Director, Osprey Orielle Lake, opened the event by stressing the need for women-led climate solutions. She said: “Women are not just fighting for climate justice, we are innovating it.”

“Research shows that everywhere in the world, where women have greater agency and political power, carbon emissions are lower and social and environmental policies are more effective. Yet women remain vastly underrepresented in climate negotiations and decision-making,” she said.

She also linked the slow global climate response to wider political problems, including the rise of authoritarianism and the failure to support women’s rights.

“And right now, this is playing out heavily in the United States. We are seeing rollbacks on environmental protections, attacks on reproductive rights, criminalisation of peaceful protests, and disinformation campaigns targeting climate and racial justice.

To build the healthy and just world that we want, we must amplify women’s voices not just as participants but as the architects of a thriving future.”

Speakers from countries including South Africa, Fiji, Ecuador, and Norway also stressed the importance of stronger climate commitments ahead of COP30 in Brazil. The event was supported by more than 160 organisations, including Amazon Watch, Women Deliver, and Rainforest Action Network.

A social justice consultant from South Africa, Zukiswa White, joined from Bonn, where the UN is holding a climate meeting. She shared her concerns about the lack of strong political will to act, despite rising global temperatures.

“Delaying meaningful progress on achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement must be understood for what it is: it is a matter of politics. Our work is to make climate justice outcomes a political inevitability.”