Climate resilience through social protection: the economic case for early action

Climate change is no longer a distant risk but a systemic development crisis. The impacts are particularly devastating for the least developed countries and Small Island Developing States, where repeated shocks are eroding hard-won development gains and driving households deeper into poverty.

This paper demonstrates how taking early action through social protection programmes is more cost-effective than reactive, post-disaster responses and can be socially transformative.

It highlights two complementary pathways for building resilience: anticipatory direct benefit transfers and longer-term resilience-building investments, and presents the business case for these approaches — including benefit–cost ratios and return on investment — compared with existing social protection and humanitarian responses.

The findings are based on analysis from eight countries: Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Malawi, Pakistan, Senegal and Uganda.