Social Protection and Climate Change: Building Resilience and Reducing Vulnerability with Jana Bischler

Jana Bischler is the focal point for social protection and climate change at the International Labour Organization (ILO), where she works with governments worldwide to design systems that protect people from climate shocks and support long-term resilience. From a career in development consulting to shaping global social protection policy, Jana brings both on-the-ground insight and international perspective. 

In this episode, Jana explains how cash transfers, pensions, health insurance, and adaptive social protection programs can break the cycle of climate-driven vulnerability, protecting children, older people, informal workers, and whole communities before, during, and after disasters. Drawing on examples from Kenya, Brazil, the Philippines, China, Côte d’Ivoire, and the United States, she shows how countries with different systems can prepare, expand coverage, and respond quickly to floods, droughts, and heatwaves. 

The conversation also tackles financing and governance challenges from coverage gaps and debt burdens to the role of the new loss-and-damage fund while exploring how national adaptation plans and COP negotiations can bring social protection to the centre of climate action. Jana highlights why stronger coordination between environment and social ministries is key, and how growing public demand for climate action opens a window for universal, climate-ready social protection. 

Grounded in global evidence and practical country cases, this episode offers a clear roadmap for building resilient, inclusive social protection systems that safeguard lives and livelihoods in an era of worsening climate change.