Clean Energy Education & Empowerment (C3E)
Overview
Thirty distinguished women, three energy ministers, and eight governments came together to launch the Clean Energy Education and Empowerment (C3E) women's initiative at the first Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM1), with a mission to inspire and connect women around clean energy issues in order to attract more young women to these important careers and support their advancement into leadership positions.
There is a well-documented gender gap in the clean energy professions, as in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or "STEM"-related fields more broadly. In the United States, for instance, according to the National Science Foundation, women hold only 27 percent of science and engineering jobs, and that number falls to 21 percent when limited to business and industry.
C3E participating governments are committed to working together to inspire the next generation of young, female clean energy leaders through opportunities to connect with peers and with mentors or role models who have risen to the top of the field.
Progress
As a step toward delivering on the goals outlined above, C3E convened a high-level public forum on "The Role of Women in the Clean Energy Revolution" as part of the second Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM2). Hosted by the Masdar Institute on behalf of the United Arab Emirates (as CEM2 host), the event brought together eminent women (and men whose work has advanced the role of women) from a variety of clean energy subfields to:
- Share their own experiences as women or advocates, mentors or mentees
- Highlight barriers to—and opportunities from—women's contributions to clean energy across societies
- Consider the actions governments can take to close the gender gap and enhance women's leadership across the clean energy field