Green, Fair, and Caring

Oxfam Cymru

No time to read our brilliant paper? Listen instead to our fabulous podcast! Sarah Rees of Oxfam Cymru discusses all the themes of our paper and more with a variety of contributors and excellent guests. This six-part pod is well worth a listen and we hope will be just the start of deeper and longer conversations. A just transition must be feminist: tackling inequality at its roots, revaluing care as essential social infrastructure, and ensuring no one is left behind. Wales is facing a defining moment. With the climate emergency deepening, inequality widening, and public services under sustained pressure, it is clear that the current economic model is no longer fit for purpose. At Oxfam Cymru, we believe that poverty and inequality cannot be tackled in isolation from the fight for gender and climate justice. Across the world, those who contribute least to the climate crisis— particularly women, people living in poverty, and communities marginalised on the basis of gender, race, class, disability, or migration status — are the ones who bear its greatest costs. That is why Oxfam’s global strategy commits us to advancing feminist, decolonial alternatives that place care for people and planet at the heart of economic transformation. Enjoying the pod? You can read the paper too: Our Feminist Roadmap for Wales: Green, Fair, and Caring: A Feminist Roadmap for Wales Ac yn Gymraeg - Gwyrdd, Teg, a Gofalgar: Map Ffordd Ffeministaidd i Gymru

Episodes

  1. Sep 18

    Ep:5 Energy

    This episode discusses energy and its place in a just green transition. When money is short in low-income households in Wales, after cutting back on days out, clothing and toiletries, women turn the heating down or off. Income poverty particularly impacts lone parents, 86.4% of whom are women, and households with a disabled person are more likely to be in income poverty. Industry and trade recognise that without diversifying the traditional demographic of energy workers, skills needs for the energy transition will not be met. However, an ‘energy diversity gap’ is already apparent in the renewable energy industry, and STEM Women predict that women will hold only 25% of ‘green jobs’ by 2030. Community-owned projects with defined benefits can provide much needed support for community assets and services, reduce fuel costs, and could be invested in retrofit to reduce energy demand for householders/tenants who cannot afford insulation or transferring to renewable heat sources (for example, Swansea Community Energy). This is an area in which women could lead in a green energy revolution but there are policy issues to overcome. However, developing community projects has been stymied by current energy and planning policies. The letting of very large projects excludes the Community Energy Sector, and it appears that collaboration and shared ownership models are not attractive to large producers. The Community Energy Learning Network (ELN) argues that fully realised collaborations have the potential to provide participatory benefits, so that communities do not feel ‘done to’ and therefore resistant to new renewable projects. A feminist green new deal could support women’s greater economic independence through involvement in shared ownership models and ensure that they have a role in deciding where to reinvest community benefits – in skills, supply chains, and to support retrofit to reduce fuel poverty by reducing demand.

    Ep:5 Energy
  2. 12/01/2025

    Ep:1 An Introduction to Green, Fair, and Caring

    This podcast grew out of a discussion paper funded by Oxfam Cymru and researched and written by Dr Alison Parken and Professor Sara MacBride-Stewart of Cardiff University. We would like to thank all contributors who shared their time, insights and expertise in shaping this work and contributing to the podcast. About the Authors of the paper: Dr Alison Parken Alison is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at Cardiff Business School. Her research and policy analysis work includes leading the development of the unique ‘gender pay differences’ Welsh Specific Equality Duty and creating an equality mainstreaming model to embed intersectional approaches to equality in public policy. Professor Sara MacBride-Stewart Sara is a multidisciplinary academic at Cardiff University working at the intersection of equity, climate, and health. Her work focuses on addressing and preventing emerging inequalities across social, cultural, and economic life. She specialises in place-based, collaborative approaches that promote environmental and social justice that lead to actionable solutions. At Oxfam Cymru, we believe that poverty and inequality cannot be tackled in isolation from the fight for gender and climate justice. Across the world, those who contribute least to the climate crisis - particularly women, people living in poverty, and communities marginalised based on gender, race, class, disability, or migration status - are the ones who bear its greatest costs. That is why Oxfam’s global strategy commits us to advancing feminist, decolonial alternatives that place care for people and planet at the heart of economic transformation. This report offers a feminist green new deal for Wales, contributing to a global vision by grounding it in the Welsh context. It recognises that the economic and climate crises are deeply interconnected as interlocking consequences of unjust systems - patriarchy, neoliberalism, and extractive economics - that exploit people while degrading the environment. Within this, the undervaluing of care - both paid and unpaid - illustrates how these systems rely on exploitation while failing to sustain the very foundations of our societies. A just transition must therefore be feminist: tackling inequality at its roots, revaluing care as essential social infrastructure, and ensuring no one is left behind. Grounded in Wales’s own context, including the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 and the momentum toward a wellbeing economy, this discussion paper sets out practical proposals across four key areas - social care, work, transport, and energy. These recommendations call on government, public services, and civil society to act now to shape a fairer, greener future. Our paper envisions an economy that nurtures both people and planet: where care is recognised as a human right and public good, and where decisions are guided not by short-term profit for the few but by long-term wellbeing for everyone. We hope it sparks the urgent conversations and political action needed to build a fairer, greener, and more caring Wales - whilst standing in solidarity with global struggles for justice across the Global South and beyond. We hope this podcast series helps to spark that conversation. For further information or to provide feedback on this paper, please contact: oxfamcymru@oxfam.org.uk

    Ep:1 An Introduction to Green, Fair, and Caring

About

No time to read our brilliant paper? Listen instead to our fabulous podcast! Sarah Rees of Oxfam Cymru discusses all the themes of our paper and more with a variety of contributors and excellent guests. This six-part pod is well worth a listen and we hope will be just the start of deeper and longer conversations. A just transition must be feminist: tackling inequality at its roots, revaluing care as essential social infrastructure, and ensuring no one is left behind. Wales is facing a defining moment. With the climate emergency deepening, inequality widening, and public services under sustained pressure, it is clear that the current economic model is no longer fit for purpose. At Oxfam Cymru, we believe that poverty and inequality cannot be tackled in isolation from the fight for gender and climate justice. Across the world, those who contribute least to the climate crisis— particularly women, people living in poverty, and communities marginalised on the basis of gender, race, class, disability, or migration status — are the ones who bear its greatest costs. That is why Oxfam’s global strategy commits us to advancing feminist, decolonial alternatives that place care for people and planet at the heart of economic transformation. Enjoying the pod? You can read the paper too: Our Feminist Roadmap for Wales: Green, Fair, and Caring: A Feminist Roadmap for Wales Ac yn Gymraeg - Gwyrdd, Teg, a Gofalgar: Map Ffordd Ffeministaidd i Gymru