Climate crisis driving surge in gender-based violence, UN study finds
By Laura Quinones
22 April 2025 Climate and Environment
Without urgent action, climate change could be linked to one in every ten cases of intimate partner violence by the end of the century.
That is the warning from a new issue brief by the UN Spotlight Initiative, which finds that climate change is intensifying the social and economic stresses that are fuelling increased levels of violence against women and girls.
The brief explains that extreme weather, displacement, food insecurity, and economic instability are key factors increasing the prevalence and severity of gender-based violence.
These impacts hit hardest in fragile communities, where women already face entrenched inequalities and are more vulnerable to assault.
Every 1°C rise in global temperature is associated with a 4.7 per cent increase in intimate partner violence (IPV), the study cites. In a 2°C warming scenario, 40 million more women and girls are likely to experience IPV each year by 2090. In a 3.5°C scenario, that number more than doubles.
https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/04/1162461
