Why social protection is essential to shielding the world’s most vulnerable from the impacts of the climate crisis

NEW YORK (ILO News) – The ILO’s recently launched World Social Protection Report 2024-26: Universal social protection for climate action and a just transition shed an important light on structural inequalities that permeate the climate crisis, highlighting the role of universal social protection in fostering a just transition.

The discrepancies and structural inequalities that the report revealed were the topic of discussion at the global launch of the report, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. The meeting brought together the ILO Director-General Mr. Gilbert F. Houngbo, South African Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, George Dion, representing President Ramaphosa, and a high-level panel with human rights and climate justice activist, Kumi Naidoo, General Secretary International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), Luc Triangle, President and CEO of United States Council for International Business, Whitney Young Baird, Director of UNEP’s Industry and Economic Division, Sheila Aggarwal Khan, UN Youth Advocate, Tyeisha Emmanuel, and ILO Special Representative to the UN, Cynthia Samuel-Olonjuwon.

The report found that in the 20 countries that are on the frontlines of the climate crisis more than 90 per cent of the population do not have access to any form of social protection cash benefit, be it child and family or unemployment benefits, or any support that can protect them from the ravages of climate change. In the 50 most climate-vulnerable countries, 75 per cent of the population – or 2.1 billion people – also lack any social protection.

“Universal social protection systems can shield people from the consequences of climate breakdown, support essential climate policies and drive a just transition to a more sustainable planet. To achieve this, we must ensure that everyone is adequately protected,” noted the ILO Director-General.

Universal social protection systems can shield people from the consequences of climate breakdown, support essential climate policies and drive a just transition to a more sustainable planet. To achieve this, we must ensure that everyone is adequately protected.

ILO Director-General Mr. Gilbert F. Houngbo

Nowhere is this need to protect everyone clearer than in Africa. Even though the continent is among the most vulnerable to the climate crisis, only 19.1 per cent of Africans are covered by at least one social protection benefit.

Minister Dion said, “the fight against climate change and the pursuit of social justice are inextricably linked. Social protection systems are the foundation upon which we can build a more resilient, inclusive, and sustainable world.” He concluded by calling for a commitment to universal social protection as a prerequisite to ensuring that “response to the climate crisis is grounded in human-centered principles of social justice and human rights (in order to) chart a course towards a greener, and a more just and equitable future for all.”

Long-time human rights and climate activist Kumi Naidoo raised the importance of reframing the discussion to focus on people’s needs, especially the most vulnerable. “The climate justice movement... needs to recognize that we have had a blind spot. We have been so focused on mitigating emissions and adaptation; we have forgotten the vulnerability of millions around the world. We need to put social protection well within the climate movement,” Mr. Naidoo said.

UN Youth Advocate Tyeisha Emmanuel, who is from Anguilla, a Caribbean island at substantial risk of flooding and other climate-related disasters, shared her country’s real-life experience with this. “Despite small island developing states contributing less than one per cent of global emissions we bear the brunt of the climate crisis. Hurricanes, rising sea levels, and other extreme weather events are destroying our homes, livelihoods, food, and futures,” explained Emmanuel.

There was consensus across the board that social protection is a pre-requisite for a just and sustainable transition. Luc Triangle, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, pointed out that “without social protection you can never have a just transition.” US Council for International Business President and CEO, Whitney Young Baird, noted that social protection systems “are and will be key in the context of a just transition, especially considering that the climate crisis will exacerbate existing challenges.”

For her part, UNEP’s Aggarwal-Khan pointed to the role of social protection in facilitating nature-based solutions, addressing the health impacts of climate change, and ensuring that newly created jobs in green sectors of the economy are decent.

The speakers also agreed about the urgent need for coordinated and coherent global policy response with climate action and universal social protection working in tandem, to realize human rights and social justice. “No country on its own can address the complex interplay between social protection, climate change, and just transition. The challenges we face are global in nature and require a coordinated global response,” stressed Minister Dion.