The GCSPF key demands at COP28

The Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors (GCSPF) demands the use of climate funding to invest into social protection system building, as this will facilitate more sustainable and transformative support than humanitarian aid and reconstruction of damaged infrastructure alone.

The annual climate talks under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change - UNFCCC (COP28), the Kyoto Protocol (KP) and the Paris Agreement (PA) are taking place from 30 November to 12 December in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. During the opening plenary the long expected Loss and Damage Fund was adopted with new pledges by the UAE, Germany, UK, Japan and the USA.

Member organizations of the Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors collectively advocate for strategic utilization of financial resources from this Fund. A central concern is to specifically allocate fund resources for the establishment and fortification of right-based Social Protection Systems. These systems play a pivotal role in mitigating the catastrophic consequences of climate change and adequately cushioning individual damages and losses, while contributing to increase resilience and improve adaptation.

The key priorities of the GCSPF are:

Climate-proof social protection

• Do not create separate social protection programmes to manage climate risks. Integrate climate risks, including slow-onset climate impacts, into all social protection programming.
• Plan for uncertainty. Make sure national social protection systems are flexible and can be upscaled in emergencies. Establish early warning systems that trigger quick action.

Pay for Loss and Damage and enable countries to expand social protection

• Recognise responsibility for and allocate funds to address climate-induced Loss and Damage, funds which can be used to establish systems of social protection.
• Address the link between Loss and Damage and social protection in national climate plans, including the Nationally Determined Contributions (climate pledges), so that countries can access international climate finance for investments in social protection.
• Refrain from pushing private insurance as a major approach to handle loss and damage. Complement social protection with climate insurances, such as subsidised insurance for farmers affected by weather-related risks.
• Address the present capacity and funding gap of the overstreched humanitarian system through expansion of social protection systems that address Loss and Damage. Support in slow as well as rapid onset disasters should be included and address medium and long term recovery and rehabilitation. Ensure affected people's participation in decision making.

The Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors appeals to the international community to seize this opportunity and actively participate in fair burden-sharing. Only in this way can we collectively advance transformative societal development that leaves no one behind and brings about the positive changes our world urgently needs.

Read more

The Loss and Damage Fund and Funding Arrangements and Social Protection Systems by Markus Kaltenborn, Professor at the Faculty of Law and Director of the Institute of Development Research and Development Policy (IEE), Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany and member of the GCSPF.
This paper was submitted to the UNFCCC Transitional Committee, July 2023.

Social Protection and Climate Action. A policy brief by Act Church of Sweden, Olof Palme International Center, Social Policy Initiative and the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation.

Press Release: COP28 - Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors Calls for Building Social Protection Systems to deal with "Loss and Damage"