Outstanding Women Climate Leaders

Why Women in Climate Exists

I did not create Women in Climate to add another logo to the ecosystem.

I created it because of what I kept seeing.

Over the past decade I’ve worked in climate data, catastrophe modelling, capital markets and regulatory engagement. I’ve sat in model validation sessions with global banks. I’ve negotiated revenue targets tied to flood and wildfire risk products. I’ve been in rooms where ambition was high and operational readiness was… less so.

And again and again, some of the most effective leaders in those rooms were women.

Not because they were louder.
Not because they were more visible.
But because they led in a way that the climate problem demands.

They do not pretend the uncertainty isn’t there

Climate risk is probabilistic.
Exposure data is imperfect.
Adaptation changes outcomes.

I remember a capital markets session where the pressure was building. The question on the table was simple:

‘Can this model give us a definitive answer?’

Everyone knew the honest answer was no.

It was one of the women in the room who calmly said:

‘We need to be clear about what the model does, and what it doesn’t. The risk is not in the uncertainty. The risk is in pretending there isn’t any.’

That is leadership.

Research published in Psychological Bulletin shows that women leaders, on average, score higher on participative and ethical leadership behaviours (Eagly et al., 2003). In climate, that shows up as intellectual honesty under pressure.

In a world desperate for certainty, that matters.

They integrate rather than compartmentalise

Climate does not sit neatly in one function.

It affects credit policy.
Underwriting.
Asset allocation.
Product strategy.
Technology architecture.

The strongest women leaders I have worked with refuse to let climate be siloed.

They ask:
‘How does this change incentives?’
‘Is risk aligned with strategy?’
‘Where does this sit on the balance sheet?’

MIT Sloan research highlights integrative leadership as critical for sustainability performance (MIT Sloan, 2021).

From where I sit, this is not academic theory.

The leaders who move climate from slide deck to operating model are the ones who integrate it into the system.

They are disciplined about downside risk

Carrying revenue targets sharpens your perspective.

It is tempting to lean into growth narratives. To promise acceleration. To assume adoption will follow ambition.

But climate is unforgiving of overstatement.

I have watched women leaders in capital allocation discussions quietly ask:
‘What if the regulator challenges this?’
‘What if adoption is slower?’
‘Have we stress-tested the downside?’

Harvard Business Review research suggests women leaders are more likely to incorporate downside risk into strategic planning (HBR, 2019).

In climate finance, that discipline protects credibility.

And credibility is the currency of this market.

They build institutions, not just visibility

Some of the most impressive women in climate are not chasing profile.

They are building:

Governance frameworks that withstand scrutiny

Data validation processes that survive audit

Commercial models that genuinely scale

Teams that function when they are not in the room

OECD research makes clear that durable climate progress depends on institutional capacity, not individual advocacy (OECD, 2021).

The leaders who endure are the ones building systems that last beyond them.

The performance evidence supports what I see

This is not anecdotal.

McKinsey’s Diversity Wins research shows companies with greater gender diversity in executive teams are significantly more likely to outperform financially, particularly in industries undergoing structural transformation (McKinsey, 2020).

Climate is structural transformation.

Yet the World Economic Forum continues to show women underrepresented at CEO and board level, even while heavily represented in sustainability and ESG leadership roles (WEF, 2023).

We are asking women to do the systems work.

We are not consistently giving them system-level authority.

Why Women in Climate Exists

Climate leadership is entering a more disciplined phase.

Capital is tighter.
Regulation is sharper.
Claims are being tested.

The next decade will not reward noise. It will reward leaders who can manage complexity without denial, scale without hype, and embed resilience without losing commercial discipline.

I have seen many women doing this work quietly and competently for years.

Women in Climate exists to:

Make that leadership visible
Connect women operating at this level across finance, technology and policy
Accelerate influence at the capital allocation and governance table
Ensure that capability and authority finally align

This is not about representation for its own sake. It is about recognising the leadership model climate actually requires.

If you are building, investing in, regulating, or scaling climate solutions and this resonates with you, then Women in Climate is for you.

We rise so others may follow.