Fostering human and social development amid climate change – the power of social protection for all

Background

The 30th session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) will take place from 10 to 21 November 2025 in Belém, Brazil. The ILO, FAO, UNICEF and UNRISD are organising a side event at COP30 in Belém, which aims to foster a holistic understanding of social protection’s role in climate mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage, and in tackling structural inequalities for a just transition.

The event will explore the following questions: 

• How do climate change and the transition towards a low-carbon and resilient economy affect different groups in society and why is social protection for all important in addressing these challenges?
• What solutions are governments – from Asia to Africa to Latin America – finding to extend and adapt their national social protection systems so that they can effectively tackle the impacts of climate change and climate policies on poverty, jobs and livelihoods, health and inequality.   
• What is the role of international cooperation in supporting these goals? 

By providing a platform for diverse human voices and country experiences, the event supports the launch of the Belém Declaration on Hunger, Poverty and Human-Centred Climate Action which countries are being invited to voluntarily adopt at the COP30 Leaders’ Summit and which includes ambitious commitments on social protection.