A World Defined by Justice and Care: Universal Social Floors

This fact sheet by the Institute for Economic Justice advocates for the implementation of Universal Social Protection Floors to combat global poverty, hunger, and inequality. It details the role of the G20 in promoting these floors, specifically highlighting the contributions of previous presidencies and the strategic opportunity presented by South Africa's G20 presidency to integrate social protection with economic and industrial strategies.

• Universal Social Protection Floors are a global initiative designed to address extreme poverty, hunger, and inequality. Current global statistics indicate that nearly 29% of the population faces hunger and over 575 million people are projected to live in extreme poverty by 2030, while only 12% of global development targets are currently on track.
• Social Protection Floors are intended to provide guaranteed access to basic income security—including child support, disability grants, and income security insurance for working-age adults—as well as healthcare to address systemic vulnerabilities caused by climate change, globalisation, and geopolitical instability.
• Recent G20 presidencies have introduced specific mechanisms to advance social protection: Indonesia's 2022 presidency introduced 'adaptive social protection' to link systems with disaster risk management, and Brazil's 2024 presidency established the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty and a Ministerial Declaration for Reducing Inequalities.
• South Africa's G20 presidency aims to use Task Force 1 on Inclusive Economic Growth, Industrialisation, Employment, and Reduced Inequality, and the Development Working Group to integrate social protection policies into broader industrial and economic strategies to create decent jobs.
• In South Africa, social protection is described as inadequate despite existing grants, as adults aged 18 to 59 who are not disabled are excluded from permanent income support. The document notes that the SRD grant serves as a vehicle toward a universal basic income but faces opposition from the National Treasury.

APA

iej_admin (2025). A World Defined by Justice and Care: Universal Social Floors. Institute for Economic Justice. https://iej.org.za/resource/factsheet/g20-factsheet-8-a-world-defined-by-justice-and-care-universal-social-floors/

Chicago

iej_admin. A World Defined by Justice and Care: Universal Social Floors. Institute for Economic Justice, 2025. https://iej.org.za/resource/factsheet/g20-factsheet-8-a-world-defined-by-justice-and-care-universal-social-floors/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=iej_admin |title=A World Defined by Justice and Care: Universal Social Floors |publisher=Institute for Economic Justice |date=26 August 2025 |url=https://iej.org.za/resource/factsheet/g20-factsheet-8-a-world-defined-by-justice-and-care-universal-social-floors/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{iejadmin2025world, author = {iej\_admin}, title = {{A World Defined by Justice and Care: Universal Social Floors}}, institution = {Institute for Economic Justice}, year = {2025}, month = aug, url = {https://iej.org.za/resource/factsheet/g20-factsheet-8-a-world-defined-by-justice-and-care-universal-social-floors/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }