Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

A man working on a laptop that is placed on a brown wooden desk.  On the screen is the COP 30 special issue title.

In this round up of 2025, we share the Special Collections published throughout the year to mark key UN observation days and events.

Image of a structure with th hashtag symbol and COP30 outside a building illuminated at night

The 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) took place in Belém, Brazil, bringing together governments and stakeholders for the UN’s annual climate negotiations. This article, provided by LexisNexis UK Practical Guidance, offers a day-by-day overview of the key insights, decisions and developments from the Summit.

Image of a front cover of an Elsevier report

Drawing on insights from the United Nations 10-Member Group on Science, Technology, and Innovation for the SDGs, Beyond 2030  reviews the framework’s achievements to date and delivers critical insights into how the SDGs can guide global cooperation and decisive local action well beyond 2030.

Elsevier,

Climate Change and Disability: A Collaborative Approach to a Sustainable, Inclusive Future for All 2026, pp 45-48

This chapter highlights how climate change intensifies health challenges and resource access barriers for women with disabilities, aligning with SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being) by emphasizing the need for inclusive decision-making to improve health outcomes and ensure equitable access to rights.

Tablet device featuring Envisioning Futures report

The Elsevier Foundation and RIKEN's report, ‘Envisioning Futures: Amplifying women’s voices and leadership in Japanese Science’, calls on research institutions to expand definitions of excellence b

This study explores how students’ autonomy, competence, and relatedness at school relate to their wellbeing, focusing on girls, students with special educational needs (SEN), and low socioeconomic status (SES) students
A youn g child watching anothether child demonstrating the use of a water filter

RELX Environmental Challenge 2025: four shortlisted projects to bring safe water and sanitation to communities around the world

The paper critically examines the assumption that access to electricity (SDG 7) inherently promotes gender equality (SDG 5). It finds that the gendered impacts of electricity access vary widely—sometimes empowering women, but other times reinforcing existing inequalities. To better understand these dynamics, the authors develop a new theoretical framework that merges: Gender Studies insights on gender as performative, intersectional, and shaped by power relations. Social Practice Theory, which explores how electricity gains meaning through its role in everyday practices. This framework is applied to case studies in rural Guatemala (patriarchal) and rural Colombia (matrilineal), revealing how cultural context shapes outcomes. The paper also introduces an 8-step methodology for applying this framework in practice. Ultimately, the study offers tools for designing context-sensitive energy policies that are more likely to advance gender equality.
Women smiling in a white headscarf

To mark its 20th anniversary, the Elsevier Foundation has released an impact report highlighting its key partnerships and achievements.

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