New York: Europe and the Arabs
A new report issued by the International Labour Organization showed that governments are failing to fully harness the powerful potential of social protection to confront the effects of the climate crisis and support a just transition. It concluded that the countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change often have the lowest levels of social protection.
The report explained that more than half of the world’s population (52.4 percent) enjoys some form of social protection for the first time, and this percentage is up from 42.8 percent in 2015, the year in which the Sustainable Development Goals were adopted. According to the UN daily news bulletin, which we received a copy of this morning, Friday, which added, "But he warned that in the twenty countries most vulnerable to the climate crisis, 91.3 percent of the population (364 million people) still lack any form of social protection.
He added that globally, most children (76.1 percent) still lack effective social protection coverage, and that there is also a large gender gap, with effective coverage for women lagging behind that for men, at 50.1 percent compared to 54.6 percent for men.
The imperative of universal protection
The International Labor Organization pointed out that these gaps in social protection are particularly important given the potential role of social protection in mitigating the impact of climate change, helping people and communities adapt to a new reality of climate volatility, and facilitating a just transition to a sustainable future.
The Director-General of the International Labor Organization, Gilbert Houngbo, said, "Climate change does not recognize borders, and we cannot build a wall to keep the crisis out. The climate crisis affects us all and represents the single most serious threat to social justice today,” he added. “Universal social protection is at the top of the list of tools available to us to help ensure that the climate crisis does not deepen existing inequalities and exclusion in affected communities.” The report explained that social protection can help people cope and adapt to climate-related shocks by providing social protection benefits, such as income security and access to health care. “Social protection is essential to ensure that no one is left behind in the ongoing transition to green and low-carbon energy,” said the ILO Director-General. The imperative to universalize social protection is not only moral, but also practical.

Raising the bar
The report called for decisive and integrated policy action to close protection gaps, saying that “now is the time to raise the bar” and invest significantly in social protection. It made a number of recommendations to help guide policies and ensure effective and sustainable outcomes.
Among these recommendations is to prepare for both “routine” life cycle risks and climate-related shocks by having social protection systems in place in advance by ensuring that everyone has adequate social protection.
The report also recommended using social protection to support climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts and ensuring public acceptance of such measures, and prioritizing investment in social protection, including external support for countries with limited fiscal space.