ILO press conference: launch of World Social Protection Report

Good morning, colleagues. Thank you for being with us here today.

today we are launching the International Labour

Organization's World Social Protection Report 2024 to 2026

Universal social protection for climate action and a just transition

which couldn't be any more topical given what's happening in the world today.

I'm very pleased to have

Assistant Director General Mia

Seppo with us

AD

G Miao

oversees our jobs and social protection strand of

work as well as Social Protection Department Director

Shara

Ravi

with us

Just a quick reminder that the report

and all associated material including this press

this press conference is under embargo until 11:30 a.m. CE T Geneva local time.

And with this, I'd like to hand over to a dg

seppo over to you.

Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen,

welcome to the launch of the word Social Protection report for 2024 to 2026.

The report serves a dual purpose.

Firstly,

it provides a comprehensive global overview of the state of social protection.

Secondly,

it addresses the most significant threat to social justice, the climate crisis.

The report illustrates how social protection systems can

shield individuals from the consequences of climate breakdown,

such as extreme weather and rising temperatures.

It shows how social protection can support much needed climate policies

and catalyse a just transition to a more sustainable planet.

During turning our attention to the current state of social protection,

the report offers grounds for optimism for the

first time over half of the global population,

52.4 per cent

benefit from some form of social protection,

marking a significant improvement

from the 42.8 per cent recorded in 2015.

However,

a distressingly high number of individuals remain unprotected

against common life risks such as illness,

poverty, unemployment

or lack protection. In old age.

Worldwide, 3.8 billion people, predominantly in the global south,

lack any form of social protection, leaving them unprepared for life cycle risks

and the environmental challenges that lie ahead.

The stark disparity in the right to social protection

is a reflection of our deeply divided world.

The most urgent challenge is protecting those at

the front line of the climate crisis.

In the 20 countries most at risk, 91.3% of the population,

or 364 million individuals, are without social protection.

The consequences of these protection gaps are already severe

and will only intensify as

these populations face escalating climate disturbances

and the adverse effects of slow onset

changes like rising sea levels and desertification.

Now let's examine some of the

report's findings on social protection,

focusing on specific benefits and demographic groups.

A significant gender gap exists in social protection

coverage with 50.1% of women, compared to 54.6 for men.

Social protection systems must become more gender responsive as part of

a larger set of policies to address inequalities in labour markets.

Employment and society at large

Children are particularly vulnerable to climate crisis

and will have increased needs for protection.

An overwhelming majority of Children worldwide 76% or €1.08 billion

do not receive child benefits.

Public expenditures on social protection for Children

needs to increase.

Only 16.7 of unemployed individuals receive

unemployment benefits with notable regional differences.

Young people, self-employed,

digital platform workers and those in agriculture

and migrants often lack unemployment protection,

leaving them vulnerable when job loss or income disruption

occurs.

Governments are not fully harnessing the potential of social protection largely

due to persistent gaps in coverage caused by significant under investments.

On average, countries allocate 12.9 per cent of their GDP to social protection.

However, low income countries invest a mere 0.8 per cent of their GDP,

while 52.3 per cent would be required to ensure

a basic level of social protection for all.

Filling these gaps to guarantee minimum social

protection for everyone requires concerted international co-operation.

It entails prioritising investment in social protection,

including external support mechanisms like loss and damage financing

funding, especially for countries with limited fiscal space.

It requires an increase in climate finance to complement

ODA.

Studies show

that since 2018, over half of the climate finance provided to develop

provided by developed nations was not additional to existing development aid.

Achieving greater tax justice requires

increased tax progressivity and eradicating

tax evasion and avoidance at both national and international levels.

Climate justice should guide efforts to address the

climate crisis and ensure a just transition.

The ones who have contributed the least to the crisis are bearing the

brunt of it

and they are those with the most constrained

resources and weak systems to prepare and respond.

Therefore,

wealthier nations and richer groups within all societies should assume

a greater financial responsibility in

the pursuit of environmental sustainability.

Developing social protection systems and the expansion of

social protection is thus a crucial step in addressing

the deep rooted global and domestic disparities that

have been further exacerbated by the climate crisis.

By expanding social protection,

we can help rectify long-standing global and domestic inequalities

and inequities rendered more pronounced by the climate crisis.

Social protection not only safeguards individuals from poverty and inequality,

but also generates public support for climate policies.

It ensures that workers

have income security such as unemployment benefits,

which provides them with the stability to acquire

new skills and knowledge needed to get a job

in the green and low carbon sectors.

Such

measures can alleviate concerns among workers,

employers and communities regarding the transition,

thereby mobilising popular support for a sustainable and just transition.

Having outlined the current state of social protection

and its capacity to facilitate a just transition,

I now pass to my colleague

Sara Razavi.

Sarah will give you some examples of

the ways social protection can support climate action

and what policy action is needed

Sarah over

to you.

Thank you so much, Mia

and good morning to everyone.

You have whetted the appetite.

And now I want to give some concrete examples

of how social protection can contribute to climate change,

mitigation and adaptation,

and finish with some overarching policy recommendations.

So first,

promising examples of mitigation that is stopping the

drivers of the climate change and climate crisis

and keeping fossil fuels in the ground

two concrete ways.

The progressive and careful phasing out of what

are often very regressive fossil fuel subsidies.

This is commonplace in many middle income countries,

and it is effective in freeing substantial fiscal

space in order to invest in social protection

reforms. Subsidy reforms could drastically reduce CO two emissions.

Raise revenues that we calculate can amount to about 11% of GDP

and prevent millions of deaths that are caused by air pollution every year.

But it needs to be done carefully, and the sequencing is key,

with social protection benefits already in

place to compensate households before the

subsidies are removed so as not to face the kind of resistance

that often comes when such benefits are not in

place in order to give people the income security

that they need as their prices for electricity and

energy increase as a result of subsidy removals.

A second example.

The greening of public pension funds, both public and private pension funds.

Enormous tranches of global capital. We calculate that it's around $53

trillion.53 trillion US dollars that are nestled in these funds

in the OECD countries alone.

Prudently divesting these funds from fossil fuels would

be enormously helpful in our mitigation efforts,

and the good news is that some countries are already doing it.

Canada and Denmark provide good examples.

Moving to adaptation Social protection can also

help people adapt to climate change,

and it does so by providing the income security and the access to healthcare.

That really is what is needed to increase resilience. This helps prevent poverty

and to reduce inequalities,

which really is effective in increasing capacity of people to cope and to adapt.

And here I want to highlight, for example, health protection.

This will help people deal with the spread of new and existing diseases which we know

are also spreading as a result of the

climate crisis and also the loss of biodiversity,

a

healthier population we know is also way better

placed to cope with many of the challenges,

like the higher temperatures that

we know are associated with cardiovascular risks. For example,

another concrete example is the way in

which countries are using their social protection system

to compensate workers for lost wages on days when it is too hot for them to work.

This particularly affects workers, for example,

in sectors such as construction or agriculture.

This is a good case, for example,

Algeria of putting in those kind of benefits

to compensate for these wages that are lost.

And another example is of Brazil leveraging its existing social protection system

to the recent floods which it faced

and was able to provide vital support.

Pensioners,

those who were receiving social assistance benefits and also unemployment

benefits received both higher levels of benefits.

As a result of this disruption that was caused and

also efforts were made to make those benefits available quicker

and with less administrative hurdles that beneficiaries

would have to need to address.

Now the report has many practical examples like these.

But what I really want to convey is that we do have at our fingertips all the policy

mechanisms needed to protect people from both the everyday

life cycle risks that they face as well as

ways of dealing with the climate crisis.

So the challenge is not in having

policy examples and good practises that we can draw on.

The challenge really is in having to address the lack or

the dearth of financing for what needs to be done.

And also,

if I can say, a dearth of political will to make change

happen quickly and effectively.

The clear message from this report is the urgent need

to build a basic level of Social Security for all,

a social protection floor that is robust.

This means getting the basics right

and having a social protection that is universal and accessible to everyone.

That provides adequate benefits that can ensure a decent living standard

that is comprehensive and can cover the full range of risks that people face

that is adapted and more responsive to climate shocks

and that is sustainably and equitably financed and grounded

in the principles of decent work and rights.

I think these are the key takeaways that we want to leave you with

no society, regardless

of its level of income can navigate the climate crisis,

nor be able to enjoy a greener future without having social protection at the helm.

Ultimately,

it's time for policy makers to take decisive action for both people and the planet.

Thank you.

Thank you very much. AD, G,

Seppo and, uh, uh,

Shara for your presentation.

I would now like to open up the floor to questions I just

would like to ask you to please introduce yourself and your outlet.

Uh, we'll start in the room,

please.

Uh, Mexi, uh, Musa

Si

Alma

in TV

te. Welcome,

sir.

I

keep

a guarantee

in security.

It's clear that the most vulnerable countries are the least prepared.

And it's also clear that the fiscal space that these countries have doesn't

allow them to build a minimum social protection floor on their own.

And this is where the whole ethos of the climate justice comes in.

So we are looking at

how both to ensure that climate finance

is complementary to existing official development assistance

There ongoing discussions about the role of climate,

social protection in the loss and damage financing

And then, of course, there Innovative discussions around

taxation, tax, justice, taxation, reform

as well as as just global solidarity.

I think one of the key conversations that will

happen also in the summit of the future,

is how do we ensure

the global solidarity needed to protect the countries

at the front line of the climate crisis?

But certain

financing is going to be key for it, but not the only one.

As Shara was mentioning earlier,

it's important to focus the effort to help countries get the basics right.

So get their systems in place that can then be adapted to respond when a crisis hits.

Uh

uh

uh,

The the security

on

there is some effects still to now from COVID-19.

Can you hear me?

Um

so

maybe just on the COVID-19. As

we have been speaking not only in this report, but other reports of the ILO.

The recovery from covid is happening, but it's very uneven

in terms of enterprises in terms of employment,

picking up and providing the decent jobs and the financing

that is needed domestically for building social protection systems.

That we know is clearly the case,

but also with the changes that happened after the pandemic. The rise in interest

rates,

which have made the debt burden of many both middle income

and low income countries very difficult to service and servicing.

That debt has become extremely onerous

and countries are spending often more on paying

interest rates than on being better health,

education and social protection

investment in those three areas combined.

So these are also longer lasting legacies of covid,

which are continuing and which have led to

the cost of living crisis and the fiscal crisis that many countries are facing.

And this continues to make it difficult, particularly for low income countries,

to find the fiscal space that they need domestically

to be able to close the financing gap.

As

Mia mentioned, there are global discussions and efforts. Mia

mentioned the summit of the future, which is very important,

but also in 2025 we are going to have the Financing for Development

Conference, which is going to take place where there will be discussions about how

the global financial architecture

and be better prepared to really support low income countries

by being able to deal with the debt issue,

which is causing a lot of distress in many developing

countries and taking away the fiscal space that they need

also addressing the issue of tax evasion and

tax avoidance both within countries but also globally

and being able to have greater revenues coming in,

particularly from taxation of multinational corporations.

That will really need to pay their

fair share of taxes as well in order to support the financing requirements,

particularly of low but also of middle income countries.

Let me just add one quick comment.

One of the obvious lessons from the covid response

was that countries with very high levels of informality

had big

numbers of people without any form of social protection.

So

is focusing on supporting countries with the formalisation process and thereby

addressing both the decent work deficit but also

the extension of social protection to people who

had no social protection during the pandemic.

Thank you.

Any other questions in the room?

Hello?

Uh, my name is Monica. I'm from, uh, Brazil, Brazil, de Fato.

And, uh, I had 33 question.

I'm sorry, my English, but I intend

many countries have seen a growing number of climate, relation, disasters.

My country, my state of original

do

in south of Brazil

had severe

flood. They affect millions of persons in last May.

What does the report recommend to countries

regarding the link between social protection and climate

related disasters?

Thank you for the question.

Let me start. And maybe I

want to compliment. Just to note that

the Brazil response to the devastating floods

is a really good example of why countries

that have a basic social protection system in place are actually able to respond,

as Sarah mentioned in her remarks,

able to then respond to the most vulnerable to tackle

both vulnerabilities and possible job impact very quickly

by adapting the existing social protection system.

So it's a good lesson in terms of looking at the challenges of the countries

at the front line of the climate crisis who do not have even the

basics in place in terms of social protection systems that can then be adapted

given.

Then, after a basic system is in place,

there will always be a need for

making sure that the governance structures are properly

in place to respond and to adjust and to make

sure that there's financial sustainability of the social protection system.

I

is a tripartite institution,

and we support countries also ensure

that the governance structures take into account

the tripartite conversations in terms of making sure the

governance and the financial sustainability is carefully considered.

Thank you for those questions and I think Mia has already answered

the questions.

But I just want to add maybe a point on the role of trade unions, which we think are

you have been and continue to be very important agents of change.

And in this regard they can lobby their

governments to find fiscal space for social protection.

They can also help the extension of social

protection to workers in the informal economy,

which, as Mia

mentioned, is a very important challenge that many countries are facing

because they know which groups of workers have some contributory capacity and

would be easier to include and to extend social insurance schemes,

too.

They also have a very important role to play in making sure that

by informing their members about new policies and legislation

so that workers have the information that they need about their entitlements

and about the benefits that they can receive and how to

navigate the system and how to also support it

and have faith in the system and continue to contribute to it.

There is as we know a lot of evasion of payments and contributions.

And I think building that trust in systems

is absolutely critical so that both employers and

workers continue to make their contributions so that

these social contributory systems can stay financially viable.

And I think, as agents that are closest to workers,

they will also know first hand how social protection systems can be improved can be

made more accessible so that those who contribute

to them can also benefit from them.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

I don't see any more hands in the room online.

I don't see any hands up online, um, for task questions.

So if we don't have any more questions, I think we can, uh,

close this press conference.

Thank you very much for being with us. Uh, today

and, uh, have a good rest of the day