With Climate Week NYC and the 81st session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA81) just a few months before COP31 in Türkiye this November, the focus is on implementing the outcomes of COP30 in Belém.

The hard-won Belém Gender Action Plan (GAP) is only as strong as its implementation. Since last November, WEDO has worked to secure commitment to fully implement national-level action, including through work supporting national assessment submissions, which are crucial for shaping the evidence base for future work, financing decisions, and follow-up activities for the GAP.

This September, WEDO continues to address this gap and ensure the commitments made in Belém do not stall before they reach the communities they were meant to serve.

Care sits at the center of this work. Alongside our fellow advocates and movement leaders, WEDO is making the case that care systems, from public health to community caregiving, are foundational to climate action. A just transition that does not account for who does the invisible work of holding communities together is not a just transition at all. Our conversation, “From Extraction to Care” on Monday, September 21, will address care and the next steps for climate action.

We are also arriving at this moment with clear eyes about the state of multilateralism itself. WEDO’s engagement at a high-level dialogue on feminist multilateralism, convened with the Government of Mexico, UN Women, Karama, and civil society partners, is part of a sustained effort to center feminist leadership in multilateralism.

Bridget Burns, WEDO's Executive Director, has also been invited to the UN Secretary-General's High-level Event on Climate Action and the Just Transition and the High-Level Solutions Dialogue on Accelerating Green Industrialization, both convened during UNGA81 High-Level Week, marking further spaces where WEDO's advocacy is present as decisions on climate finance and industrial transition take shape ahead of COP31.

Learn more about how WEDO will engage in New York this month below.

Key WEDO Event

From Extraction to Care: What comes next for climate action?
Monday, September 21 | 2–4 pm EDT

Join WEDO for a provocative and forward-looking conversation about what comes next. We’ll take stock of the implementation gap after Belém, share what we are learning from governments and movements working to translate hard-fought wins, including the Gender Action Plan and Just Transition Mechanism, into meaningful action, and explore what a truly just transition demands across energy, care, health, and adaptation. 

RSVP here 

Where WEDO Is Engaging

Health Is the Headline: Women, Climate, and the Road Ahead
Sunday, September 20 | 2–4 pm EDT |  Invite Only

As the global community looks toward COP31 in Tükiye, the Belém Gender Action Plan, and the road to COP32 in Ethiopia, this invitation-only dialogue, hosted by Project Dandelion and featuring WEDO’s Executive Director, Bridget Burns, will convene leaders from philanthropy, government, multilateral institutions, research, finance, and civil society around a shared question: How do we accelerate climate action by making women’s leadership more visible, more connected, and more investable?

The Power of Care in Climate and Environmental Crises
Tuesday, September 22 | 10–11:30 am EDT | Virtual 
This virtual dialogue responds to the Rio Conventions' Secretariat's decision to host a webinar on the care-climate nexus, led by the UNFCCC in partnership with allies. The dialogue aims to generate knowledge, deepen understanding of the interdependence between climate change and national care systems, and identify actionable opportunities to integrate care into the implementation of the Rio Conventions’ mandates, Gender Action Plans, and national implementation efforts.

Register here

Women Building a Resilient World: Implementing a Just Transition and Fossil Fuel Phaseout
Wednesday, September 23 | 5–8 pm EDT

During this event, hosted by WECAN and featuring WEDO’s Executive Director Bridget Burns, frontline women, Indigenous leaders, policymakers, and climate justice advocates will come together to explore the bold actions and solutions needed to accelerate a Just Transition and an equitable fossil fuel phaseout.

RSVP here 

Resilience From the Ground Up: Care Systems as Climate Infrastructure 
Thursday, September 24 | 6–8 pm EDT

This session, featuring WEDO’s Manager of Policy and Development, Alex Gordon, explores how municipal care systems, ranging from community support networks and social safety nets to public health and caretaking services, function as critical, frontline climate infrastructure. 

RSVP here 

UNGA 81 High-Level Dialogue on Reinvigorating Feminist Multilateralism
Friday, September 25 | 3:30–5 pm | Invite-only in person or watch online 

The Government of Mexico, UN Women, and Karama, in collaboration with Member States and regional and civil society partners, including WEDO, FEMNET, Feminist Foreign Policy Collaborative, and ARROW, will convene a high-level public dialogue during High-Level Week of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 81). 

This event will mark the start of a sustained effort to build a feminist multilateral system, connecting Member States, the UN, regional organizations, and civil society around concrete actions to strengthen a more representative, accountable, and effective multilateral system. The dialogue is an urgent call for centering feminist leadership in multilateralism. It will bring together women leaders, including in civil society, with Member States and multilateral partners committed to advancing women's leadership and rights in the multilateral system.