3.5 Million High-Integrity Credits Issued for 25 Projects Across 15 Countries
The W+ Standard™, the first and only global certification that measures and monetizes women's empowerment, has relaunched its credit purchasing platform, www.wplus.org, ahead of Climate Week NYC 2025. The platform gives companies, investors, and NGOs a transparent way to finance both climate adaptation and women's empowerment.
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Developed in 2014 by WOCAN (Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management), the Standard tracks progress across six domains: Time, Income & Assets, Education & Knowledge, Leadership, Food Security, and Health. Over the past decade, W+ has measured results from two dozen+ projects across 15 countries in Asia, Africa, and LATAM, reaching 150,000+ women. To date, this work has generated 3.5 million high-integrity credits; with every credit purchased advancing women's empowerment and gender equality.
Examples include a regenerative agriculture project training 75,000 women leaders in India; a biogas initiative in Nepal saving 7,200 women an average of 2.5 hours per day; and a mangrove conservation program in Cameroon supplying cookstoves to women fish processors.
The W+ has become a sought-after certification, with global corporations, financial institutions, and NGOs using it to design and demonstrate transparent, high-integrity impact in gender equity and climate action. Now marking a defining milestone, the Standard is integrating carbon projects with VNV and others, becoming the first ever to use carbon finance to fund women's empowerment. This sets a new financial mechanism to support women-led climate adaptation activities, raising ambition for climate and gender outcomes.
“Every credit purchased advances women's empowerment and gender equality,” says Jeannette Gurung, WOCAN founder/executive director. “With trusted partners managing climate and development projects, we can scale women-led solutions that strengthen communities and deliver lasting impact.”
For Climate Week NYC, WOCAN will host two flagship events:
— Beyond Carbon: Empowering Women Financing Climate Adaptation – Sept. 22, 5-7 PM, featuring Gurung, Sandeep Roy Choudhury (VNV), and Elizabeth Munee Kiamba (CGAP/World Bank).
— The Gender Dividend: Investing in Women for Climate Impact – Sept. 24, 5-7 PM, featuring Gurung, Kavita Sinha (Green Climate Fund), Anamaria Loboguerrero (Gates Foundation), and Bruna Rezende (IRÍADA project, Brazil).
The W+ Standard™ is backed by rigorous third-party verification, endorsed by UNFCCC, and supported by the Gates Foundation. Partners include the UN Development Programme, The Nature Conservancy, Oxfam, World Bank, and the World Resources Institute, The Standard has received international recognition, including the UNFCCC Women for Results Award.
Explore relaunched platform at www.wplus.org.
About theW+ Standard™: The W+ Standard, created by WOCAN, is the first women-specific standard measuring women's empowerment in a transparent and quantifiable manner, assigns a monetary value to results, and creates a new channel to direct financial resources to women. Created by WOCAN.
Press inquires:CarolinaAlduey | carolina@carolinaalduey.com
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SOURCE The W+ Standard™
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