A multilateral coalition of public and private sector investors, last month, pledged to invest $20 billion in women’s economic empowerment over the next three years, under the 2X Challenge.

The announcement came at the close of the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Italy, with the official communiquè affirming support from among the group’s development and multilateral finance institutions.

This will be the third edition of the 2X Challenge, which was first launched at the G7 Summit 2018 in Canada to mobilise $3 billion in gender lens investments (GLI) between 2018 to 2020. The first Challenge significantly surpassed that target, raising more than US$11 billion.

A new target of $15 billion was set at the G7 Summit 2021 in the United Kingdom and was also subsequently surpassed with US$16.3 billion raised between 2021 to 2022. As of 2024, more than $33.6 billion in gender lens investments have been mobilised under the 2X Challenge.

The 2X Challenge 2024-2027 marks the first time that private investors will be a part of the initiative, which has expanded to include the full spectrum of capital providers.