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'Climate ninjas' overlooked as little finance reaches women

(Reuters, 8 Mar 2021) While women are often driving climate action on the ground, their local-level efforts rarely qualify for international funding - and that needs to change, experts and officials say

In Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, green public transport isn't new - women have been driving hundreds of electric three-wheeled, 12-seater buses for the past 25 years.

But in some cases those vehicles are now rusting in garages because their owners cannot find the money to buy the more durable but also costlier new batteries needed to keep them on the road, said Sonika Manandhar, a young computer engineer and social entrepreneur.

It's women like these, running businesses on a tiny scale, that she wants to help with technology she developed to channel funds to borrowers that commercial banks shy away from - and tackle climate change at the same time.

In a mountainous country like Nepal, with plenty of hydropower, public transport that runs on green electricity can reduce both climate-heating emissions and urban air pollution - but instead the government spent nearly $2 billion to import fossil fuels in the 2019 fiscal year, Manandhar said.

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Reuters, 8 Mar 2021: 'Climate ninjas' overlooked as little finance reaches women