Women Accelerating Action in the Carbon Markets

Women are shaping the future of carbon markets, while driving real impact, fostering equity, and ensuring climate finance delivers meaningful change. That was the powerful message from our recent webinar, where we gathered top industry leaders to discuss how high-integrity carbon markets can create opportunities for women while advancing global climate goals.

Featuring expert insights from:

• Mandy Rambharos, CEO, Verra 
• Bianca Gichangi, Regional Lead – Africa, VCMI
• Ariel Russ, Senior Manager of Sustainability, Supply Chain, Estée Lauder companies
• Lillian Kagume, Head of Health and Livelihoods, Climate Impact Partners

Moderated by Sheri Hickok, CEO of Climate Impact Partners, the discussion uncovered the challenges, opportunities, and bold actions needed to scale women’s leadership in carbon finance.

Women are driving impact but they need a seat at the table

Despite being among the most affected by climate change, women remain underrepresented in carbon market decision-making. Bianca Gichangi stressed the urgency of change: “Women need to be in the decision-making process, they need to be in the regulations, guidelines, and policy process. I cannot emphasize that enough.”

From project development to policy creation, women’s leadership is essential for shaping carbon markets that drastically cut emissions while drive long-term socio-economic benefits.

Empowering women as leaders in carbon markets

Women must move beyond being beneficiaries to becoming the architects of change. Lillian Kagume emphasized: “We need to ensure women aren’t just beneficiaries but also project developers, auditors, and policymakers.”

Ensuring women’s leadership in carbon finance requires intentional engagement, capacity-building, and equitable opportunities. By strengthening their role at every level, from designing policies to leading projects, carbon markets can become more inclusive and high-impact.

Carbon finance is more than just emissions reduction

While reducing emissions is the core goal of carbon markets, the highest-impact projects go far beyond that to create lasting social change. Mandy Rambharos shared a powerful example from Guatemala, where climate finance helped a young girl challenge early marriage and become the first in her village to attend college: “When we talk about carbon markets, it’s really the full package, solving for decarbonization but also for equity and social justice.”

This is the true potential of high-quality, integrity-driven carbon finance: empowering women, strengthening communities, and unlocking economic opportunities.

Corporate Action: Integrating Sustainability into Business Strategies

For companies investing in carbon markets, sustainability goes beyond offsetting, it’s about embedding climate action into the core of business strategy. Ariel Russ emphasized the company’s holistic approach across its supply chain: “We take a holistic view of where we invest our resources, ensuring our sustainability strategy is credible, impactful, and long-term.”

Estée Lauder has committed to 100% renewable electricity, joined EV100 to electrify its fleet, and runs a carbon-neutral shipping program to offset emissions from direct-to-consumer deliveries. But the role of corporates in the carbon market extends beyond internal reductions, it’s also about investing in high-integrity projects that deliver measurable climate and social benefits.

“We prioritize projects that deliver verifiable climate and social benefits.” Ariel added, highlighting the need for rigorous due diligence in selecting carbon projects.

Scaling integrity: a market built on trust

With scrutiny around the voluntary carbon market, integrity frameworks are emerging to restore confidence. Bianca explained how VCMI’s Claims Code of Practice is helping businesses make credible climate claims: “We’re providing guidance for companies to use carbon credits transparently, ensuring alignment with global integrity standards.”

Meanwhile, Mandy emphasized the importance of collaboration: “Trust is everything in this market. We’re working across governments, businesses, and initiatives like VCMI to align and strengthen standards.”

Companies that lead in this space aren’t just meeting targets, they are shaping a future where corporate action is transparent, accountable, and impactful.

The role of governments in scaling high-integrity carbon markets

Governments play a critical role in ensuring carbon markets drive real impact while maintaining integrity. Mandy highlighted the importance of aligning voluntary and compliance markets, particularly through Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.

“We’re not seeing a distinction between voluntary and compliance markets anymore, we’re seeing them come together,” she explained. “Collaboration with governments is key to scaling carbon finance while ensuring trust and transparency.”

By integrating high-quality carbon credit frameworks with national policies, governments can help direct climate finance where it’s most needed, ensuring both environmental and social benefits.

What inspires these climate leaders?

Closing on a personal note, each panelist shared what keeps them motivated in this space:

Women are not just part of the carbon market conversation, they are leading it. Now is the time to amplify their voices, scale impact, and ensure climate finance works for both people and the planet.