A empty confrence room. /PHOTO; Illustration AI
As the United Nations General Assembly and Climate Week NYC (21–28 September 2025) converge, New York becomes a stage not only for high-level negotiations but also for targeted discussions that push the climate agenda into new territory.
On 23 September, ODI Global’s Global Risks and Resilience Programme and partners will convene a private, invitation-only roundtable on climate-responsive social protection (CRSP).
This gathering shifts attention from emissions and carbon markets to people, particularly the poor and vulnerable in the Global South, who are bearing the sharpest edge of the climate crisis.
The session will explore how philanthropy and private sector actors can support social protection systems that help communities withstand climate shocks and navigate livelihood transitions in the shift toward a low-carbon future.
Climate Risks and Unequal Impacts
Every continent is grappling with the realities of climate disruption.
In Asia, rising seas threaten millions in coastal megacities, while South America faces unpredictable rainfall that jeopardizes agriculture and water security.
In Europe and North America, wildfires, floods, and heatwaves highlight that even high-income regions are vulnerable to extremes.
But nowhere are the impacts felt more starkly than in the Global South, particularly Africa.
The continent’s economies and livelihoods remain highly dependent on rain-fed agriculture, and resilience systems are less developed compared to wealthier regions.
Droughts in East Africa, cyclones in Southern Africa, and flooding across West Africa show how climate extremes disproportionately push vulnerable communities into cycles of poverty and displacement.
What to Expect from the New York Climate Week Event
The 23 September ODI Global roundtable will set the stage for a broader global conversation on CRSP.
The event will introduce funders to the concept, provide an overview of global trends, and highlight opportunities where philanthropic and private sector engagement can make a difference.
At the center of the session is ODI Global’s new Primer on Climate-responsive Social Protection.
The document lays out key concepts, identifies gaps, and provides a framework to guide philanthropic investment.
Participants will hear perspectives from across regions, but also concrete illustrations from Africa and other parts of the Global South where the need for resilient systems is most urgent.
The objectives of the event are threefold:
- Introduce funders and partners to CRSP as an emerging but critical adaptation tool.
- Identify roles and gaps across public, private, and civil society stakeholders.
- Highlight entry points for philanthropy to catalyze scaling and system-wide change.
The Case for Climate-responsive Social Protection
Social protection systems, such as cash transfers, school feeding programs, unemployment benefits, and public works, have traditionally been used to buffer citizens from health or economic shocks.
Climate-responsive social protection expands this mandate to explicitly address climate risks. It includes:
- Scaling up cash transfers when disasters hit.
- Designing public works that build resilience infrastructure, such as water storage, flood barriers, or soil conservation.
- Supporting livelihood transitions as economies shift away from fossil fuels and into renewable industries.
By linking social protection with climate adaptation, CRSP provides a practical way to safeguard human well-being while preparing societies for a low-carbon future.
Why Philanthropy and Private Sector Engagement Matter
The scale of investment required to adapt social protection systems is immense.
Governments in low- and middle-income countries already face fiscal pressures, while international climate finance commitments often fall short of promises.
This creates space for philanthropy and the private sector to play a catalytic role.
Philanthropy can support pilot programs that demonstrate what works, help bridge gaps between research and implementation, and ensure that community-led initiatives are connected to national and regional systems.
The private sector also has a stake, especially in managing just transitions for workers whose livelihoods will shift in the green economy.
Together, these actors can push the global agenda beyond infrastructure-heavy climate investments to include systems that protect people directly.
The African Perspective
Although CRSP has global relevance, Africa illustrates its urgency.
According to the International Labour Organization, less than 20% of people in Sub-Saharan Africa have access to any form of social protection.
As climate shocks grow in frequency and intensity, this gap risks undermining development gains and widening inequalities.
Innovations are already emerging. In Kenya and Ghana, mobile money platforms have enabled quick cash transfers in response to floods and droughts.
In Ethiopia and Senegal, community-based insurance schemes offer early examples of collective resilience.
Yet these remain small-scale. Expanding them requires sustained investment, policy alignment, and international collaboration.
For philanthropy, Africa provides both a testbed for innovation and a moral imperative.
With limited fiscal space, governments often cannot scale promising pilots without external support.
Strategic philanthropic engagement could connect local resilience initiatives to national safety nets, create stronger climate risk data systems, and build capacity to integrate climate triggers into existing programs.
Why These Side Events Matter
Side events during UNGA and New York Climate Week often serve as incubators for the next phase of global climate action.
While formal negotiations focus on targets and commitments, these parallel discussions connect actors who can move quickly, including philanthropists, private sector leaders, civil society, and researchers.
In the case of CRSP, this convening is not only about raising awareness but about reframing climate adaptation as a human-centered agenda.
It signals to funders that climate resilience cannot be achieved through technology and infrastructure alone.
Protecting lives and livelihoods requires investing in social systems that can flex and adapt to crises.
Looking Ahead
The world is moving deeper into an era of climate uncertainty.
From South America to South Asia, and most visibly across Africa, communities need more than promises; they need safety nets that anticipate risks and support recovery.
Climate-responsive social protection offers a framework for doing exactly that.
The ODI Global roundtable on 23 September will not solve these challenges in a single afternoon.
But it will give philanthropy and private sector actors a roadmap for meaningful engagement.
By aligning resources with justice and resilience, CRSP can help ensure that climate action is not only about protecting the planet but also about protecting people.
