Early investments in social protection and resilience can slash India's climate-related losses by over 80% according to a new study.
The 48-page global study Climate resilience through social protection The economic case for early action published in October 2025 by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) reveals that India can save billions by acting before climate disasters strike.
The IIED report provides anticipatory action and resilience-building measures that can save lives and billions of dollars, outperforming traditional post-disaster aid by a wide margin.
The study says that India faces some of the highest climate risks globally and stands to lose over $11.16bn in a severe climate shock scenario but by investing just $2.2bn in early resilience measures, including by drought-proofing infrastructure, strengthening social registries, and expanding employment schemes, the country could offset these losses, saving over $46bn when compared with reactive approaches.
The study analysed data from eight countries — India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Senegal, and Uganda, using 62 years of disaster records and over 10,000 simulations per country. It compared four types of interventions — existing social protection programmes, humanitarian aid, anticipatory direct benefit transfers and early resilience investments.