A new report stresses the importance of universal social protection to ensure a just transition in the face of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss. On a positive note, for the first time more than half of the world’s population has social protection coverage.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) has released its flagship World Social Protection Report 2024–26 Universal social protection for climate action and a just transition, for which the International Social Security Association (ISSA) has contributed with research and data.
The report finds that 52.4 per cent of the world population is now covered by at least one social protection benefit. While this is solid progress from 42.8 per cent in 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals objective states that everyone should have such coverage by 2030, which is still a distant goal. Also, while high- and middle-income countries are closing coverage gaps, there is little progress in low-income-countries.
The role of social protection in tackling climate change
Reflecting this, the report shows that countries that are the most vulnerable to climate change often have the least social protection, making their populations more likely to suffer from its consequences. “Universal social protection is top of the list of tools that we have at our disposal to help us ensure that the climate crisis does not deepen existing inequalities and exclusion in affected communities”, says ILO Director-General Gilbert F. Houngbo in a press release.
Five key messages emerge from the report:
- Social protection makes an important contribution to both climate change adaptation and mitigation.
- Social protection is an enabler of climate action and a catalyst for a just transition and greater social justice.
- Decisive policy action is required to strengthen social protection systems and adapt them to new realities.
- The capacity of social protection systems to contribute to a just transition is held back by persistent gaps in social protection coverage, adequacy and financing.
- Social justice must inform climate action and a just transition, with human rights at the heart of the process.
The ISSA’s contributions and work on social protection and climate change
ISSA Secretary General Marcelo Abi-Ramia Caetano commented that “Social security organizations are working to improve their resilience in the face of climate change and other shocks, to ensure business continuity and support affected population groups. In addition, these risks are increasingly included in their actuarial and investment activities.”
The ISSA has contributed to the ILO report through its country profiles, which provided most of the legal information on national social protection schemes. In addition, the ISSA provided the ISSA Guidelines and other publications.
In 2014, the ISSA produced the report Climate change and natural resource scarcity, and the topic was followed up in the 10 challenges for social security series from 2016 to 2019. More recently, the ISSA has organized webinars, produced analysis articles, and co‑produced the report Actuarial considerations around climate-related risks on social security. Climate considerations were also dealt with in the ISSA international conferences on the actuarial and investment areas in 2022 and 2023. The ISSA will continue to promote the role of social security in tackling climate change and its social and economic consequences, including the upcoming Technical Seminar: Challenges for occupational safety and health in the context of climate change, in Senegal.