ICFP Environment & Climate Change Subcommittee

ECC Subcommittee

The Environment and Climate Change (ECC) Subcommittee made its debut at ICFP 2025 as the first-ever climate-focused subcommittee in the conference’s history—a necessary and timely addition reflecting the growing recognition that climate change and sexual and reproductive health and rights are deeply interconnected. Despite being a first-time subcommittee operating with limited resources, the ECC delivered an ambitious and wide-ranging program before, during, and after the conference. Through close collaboration with the Humanitarian and Crisis Settings Subcommittee and sustained community engagement, the ECC established a strong foundation for the climate–SRHR agenda within the ICFP ecosystem.

Major Events, Activities, and Impact

ECC Pre-conference

The ECC was the only subcommittee at ICFP 2025 to successfully execute both a pre-conference and a post-conference event—a significant achievement for an inaugural subcommittee. The pre-conference brought together participants around the intersection of climate, environment, and SRHR, creating a dedicated space for dialogue at the start of ICFP week and setting the thematic tone for ECC activities throughout the conference.

Cross-subcommittee Collaboration with Humanitarian and Crisis Settings

The ECC’s collaboration with the Humanitarian and Crisis Settings Subcommittee produced one of the conference’s standout moments of cross-subcommittee synergy. By joining forces, the two subcommittees created valuable programmatic connections between climate resilience and humanitarian SRHR response—two fields that are increasingly inseparable as climate-driven crises intensify around the world.

Webinars, Roundtables, and Side Events

The ECC delivered a robust set of activities throughout the ICFP period, including webinars, youth summit participation, roundtables, and side events. This breadth of programming ensured that climate–SRHR content reached participants across multiple conference formats and audiences—from researchers and practitioners to young advocates. Participation in the Youth Summit was particularly meaningful, reinforcing the intersectional nature of climate and reproductive justice as causes that resonate strongly with younger generations.

Post-Conference and Community Building

Following ICFP, the ECC convened a post-conference reflection meeting to capture lessons, assess what worked, and chart a path forward—demonstrating a commitment to learning and continuous improvement. The subcommittee also established WhatsApp groups and networks to sustain community engagement beyond the conference, alongside a new climate-gender-SRHR news digest initiative designed to keep members connected to the rapidly evolving policy and advocacy landscape.

Impact

In its inaugural year, the ECC Subcommittee proved both the necessity and the viability of centering climate change within the ICFP platform. Despite the challenges inherent in launching a new subcommittee with limited resources and an evolving leadership structure, the ECC delivered pre- and post-conference events, webinars, roundtables, and side events—a program that few first-time subcommittees could match. It established networks and tools for sustained community engagement, forged a meaningful cross-subcommittee collaboration, and generated a rich set of lessons that will make future ECC programming stronger. Most importantly, it planted a flag: climate and SRHR belong together, and ICFP is a platform where that conversation will continue to grow.

Key Takeaways

The Climate–SRHR Intersection Has Arrived at ICFP

The establishment of the ECC Subcommittee marks a turning point: climate change is no longer a peripheral concern in family planning and SRHR spaces—it is a central one. Strong community interest and appetite for continued engagement confirmed that this intersection resonates deeply across the field and must be sustained and elevated in future ICFP platforms.

Strategic Visibility Must Be Built Into Conference Architecture

Despite delivering a full program, ECC lacked a dedicated plenary presence at ICFP 2025. For a topic as urgent as climate change, this is a gap that must be addressed. Securing prominent positioning in plenary sessions, opening and closing ceremonies, and conference communications is essential to signal to the broader field that climate–SRHR is a priority, not a side conversation.

Cross-subcommittee Collaboration Multiplies Impact

The partnership with the Humanitarian Subcommittee demonstrated that climate and crisis are not separate issues but deeply linked realities. Building deliberate bridges between subcommittees produces stronger, more coherent programming and ensures that participants experience ICFP as an integrated ecosystem rather than a collection of parallel tracks.

Government Representation Requires Support and Strategy

Limited government participation from Latin America and African communities—largely due to travel and access constraints—highlighted that good design and programming alone do not ensure inclusive participation. Future ECC planning can empower government representation by seeking support for delegates to attend the conference and by using creative strategies to increase the impact of those representatives who are able to attend.

Sustained Engagement Between Conferences Is Essential

The appetite for continued engagement beyond ICFP was clear. The ECC’s post-conference community building—through the COP 30 Declaration, blog posts, webinar series, a new climate-gender news digest, and continued collaboration with the Humanitarian and Crisis Setting subcommittee—offers a model for how subcommittees can maintain relevance and momentum year-round. Connecting ECC work to major external convenings like COP 30 and Women Deliver 2026 will be critical to ensuring ICFP’s climate–SRHR voice is heard in the spaces where climate policy is actually made.

Powerful Voices