Both ENDS at COP31: Locally led climate finance and gender-just climate action

Why are you going to COP31?

Daan Robben: I'm going to COP31 as Both ENDS' lead on locally led climate finance, as part of the Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action (GAGGA) and our PAPeS programme, channelling funding directly to grassroots groups advancing agroecology in Senegal. My work revolves around a simple question: why does climate finance, meant to help people adapt to the climate crisis, so rarely reach them? In our daily work we prove it's possible. In Senegal, the PAPeS Small Grants Fund, hosted by IED Afrique, shows what happens when resources reach grassroots groups in flexible, low-barrier ways.

Yet these are still precisely the groups and  initiatives that the international climate finance infrastructure excludes: only 0.1 per cent of climate finance globally goes to initiatives supporting women and the environment, and less than one per cent to youth-led climate action. At COP31, I want to bring that evidence, and the people driving it, straight to the decision-makers.

Fernando Hernandez: I’m going to COP31 because the distance between what climate justice demands and what governments deliver remains dangerously large. This year’s record-breaking heat adds urgency to a crisis already threatening lives, livelihoods and ecosystems. Those who have contributed least continue to bear some of its heaviest consequences.

At Both ENDS, we work to turn climate commitments into accountability and challenge the economic rules that obstruct action. Our COP31 panel brings these questions together with Vanuatu’s Climate Change Minister, Ralph Regenvanu, and Nigerian civil society. Vanuatu’s leadership helped bring climate obligations before the International Court of Justice. Nigerian participants bring the experience of communities living with the consequences of fossil-fuel extraction and fighting for justice. Bringing that leadership and experience into the same conversation is central to why I’m going.

What would be your main message to negotiators?

Daan Robben: Promises about participation are not enough. Women-led and community-based organisations need direct, flexible and long-term funding to keep doing what they already do, which is to deliver climate solutions. PAPeS shows that a small grants mechanism, built on existing agroecology networks and with decision-making power on the ground, is one proven pathway. GAGGA has shown that the initiatives are easily scalable through existing networks of funds.

Negotiations are never just about paper; they are about people, planet and justice, and they need concrete pathways. I want to hold negotiators accountable to decisions that genuinely support those on the frontline, with those same people in the lead.

Fernando Hernandez: My message to other negotiators is to match that leadership by making their economic policies consistent with their climate obligations.

The International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion clarified that states have legal duties to protect the climate system and prevent significant environmental harm. Governments must now translate those obligations into action, including addressing the rules that stand in the way.

Investor–state dispute settlement, or ISDS, allows foreign investors to challenge public-interest measures through international arbitration. The threat of costly claims can discourage governments from taking decisions to protect people and phase out fossil fuels. We are asking them to stop agreeing to new ISDS provisions and work together to remove them from existing treaties.

The Netherlands has a particular responsibility. Having helped build and defend this system, it must now help dismantle it.

How would a positive outcome for COP31 look like to you?

Daan Robben: It would show that governments are ready to move beyond recognising local communities to actually resourcing them. That means locally led adaptation getting a meaningful place in the decisions on climate finance, with the leadership of women-led and community-based organisations recognised as key to adaptation.

In short: success would mean climate finance actually reaching the communities and women who are ahead of the curve in climate solutions, and models like PAPeS and GAGGA (and the principles driving these models) becoming mainstream.

Fernando Hernandez: A positive outcome would give countries a clearer, fairer and properly financed path out of fossil fuels, with wealthy countries taking responsibility for moving faster and supporting others. It would also put the International Court of Justice’s clarification of climate obligations into practice through government decisions that people can scrutinise and hold them accountable for.

For our work, I want governments willing to act together on ISDS to leave COP31 with concrete next steps: commitments to end harmful investment treaties and to make their removal a part of national transition plans and  follow-up to Santa Marta.

Ultimately, success must be felt beyond the conference: more resources reaching locally led, gender-just solutions, greater influence for affected communities, and companies held responsible for the damage they cause.

For more information, please contact Both ENDS’ team at COP in Turkey:

Daan Robben: d.robben@bothends.org

Fernando Hernandez Espino: f.hernandez@bothends.org

Join Both ENDS side-events at COP31

Nature Security and Women-Led Resilience in a Changing Climate

Date: Monday 9 November

Time: 14:00–15:00 (TRT)

Location/room: UK Pavilion

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Beyond participation: Resourcing Women-Led Climate Solutions in the Face of El Niño

Date: Wednesday, 18 November

Time: 16:45 - 18:15 (TRT)

Location/room: Room 1 - GORDIYON

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Unblocking Climate Action: Ending ISDS to Deliver the Transition Away from Fossil Fuels

Date: Monday 16 November 2026

Time: 16:45–18:15 (TRT)

Location/room: Room 3 - ZERZEVAN