This is the Executive Summary of the World Social Protection Report 2024-26: Universal Social Protection for Climate Action and a Just Transition which provides a global overview of progress made around the world since 2015 in extending social protection and building rights-based social protection systems. It calls on policymakers, social partners and other stakeholders to accelerate their efforts to simultaneously close protection gaps and realize climate ambitions.
Five messages emerge from this report:
- Social protection makes an important contribution to both climate change adaptation and mitigation.
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Social protection is therefore an enabler of climate action and a catalyst for a just transition and greater social justice.
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Decisive policy action is required to strengthen social protection systems and adapt them to new realities, especially in the countries and
territories most vulnerable to climate change, where coverage is the lowest.
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However, 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.
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Social justice must inform climate action and a just transition, with human rights at the heart of the process.
