Climate change is reshaping the nature of risks for people worldwide, yet climate financing and measures often do not systematically reach those particularly vulnerable and affected. National social protection systems, that exist in some form in all countries, already provide mechanisms to manage risks people face, protecting from poverty and vulnerability – and therefore offer solutions for building people´s resilience and adaptative capacity, while empowering vulnerable populations before, during, and after shocks.
Having recognized this potential, multilateral climate funds, development banks and partners working in this field have come together under an international task force to better integrate social protection in climate commitments, strategies and financing. The new note “Placing people at the centre of NDCs 3.0 – The power of social protection”, published by the Task Force on Linking Adaptive Social Protection and Climate Financing in contribution to the NDC Partnership, highlights the role of social protection in supporting ambitious climate action and aims to provide Ministries of Environment, Finance and other key national partners with options on how to integrate social protection within their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
To date, only about 14% of NDCs consider social protection as a programming or policy instrument, indicating significant potential for leveraging social protection in support of climate action in countries´ NDCs 3.0 due this year.
In order to support policy makers aiming to make their NDCs more people-centered, the newly published note offers practical examples from countries such as Indonesia, Mozambique or Antigua and Barbuda that have applied social protection for climate action or already successfully integrated it in their NDCs. It shows how social protection instruments can make communities more climate-resilient, accelerate climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts as well as efficiently address loss and damage. What makes the note particularly useful at country level is a quick guide and checklist with key steps to navigate the process of integrating social protection into NDCs 3.0 – utilizing its benefits to tackle the long-term social, economic and environmental challenges the climate crisis will bring.
Read the guidance note here: Bridging the gap between climate goals and social protection solutions
