Supporting Women to Start Climate and Energy Ventures

This original post was written in May 2020, update as at April 2022: There will be a fourth intake in 2022! It is now called ‘Women in Climate and Energy Fellowship’ — expanding focus across all of climate tech and the program will be led by Kate Morwood. Register your expression of interest now prior to applications opening later in April 2022

We are at a very interesting inflection point in the energy sector. Have you seen what’s going on with the oil price currently? Sure, it’s a quirk in supply and demand market forces but if those economics continue it’s only going to accelerate the transition to clean energy.

A fellow CleanTech investor Chris Wilson wrote a great post on ‘Why now is the best time to jump into a new clean energy venture’. If we are going to encourage new clean energy ventures then we should also address how to encourage more women to get involved.

SOME STATISTICS

A 2019 report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) reported women represent 32% of workers in renewables. This compares to 22% in traditional energy industries like oil and gas and 48% in the global work force.

Source: IRENA Article — Gender Equality for an Inclusive Energy Transition

When you look at female founders in the area of start-ups, 11% of energy sector founders are female. Looking at the spectrum of female…