Policies for healthy ageing in response to climate change: Protocol of a systematic review

PLOS One | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0323069 April 30, 2025 2 / 8 [3,4] agree that climate change is globally felt, affects some segments of the popula- tion more strongly, and needs a concerted rapid response from stakeholders. One of the segments of the population most affected by climate change events such as heatwaves and flooding is older adults [5,6]. Owing to their physiological limitations, older adults are less likely to cope with disasters caused by climate change, and this group loses essential services and support following the above events [7–9]. Older adults with comorbidities (e.g., asthma, diabetes, and hyperten- sion) and functional limitations are less likely to survive extreme weather events. In their recognition of how enormous the impact of climate change on individuals is, researchers [1,3,10] have called for interventions aimed at enabling older adults to cope with the worsening climate crisis. This call is timely owing to rapid population ageing. Population ageing refers to a global demographic shift characterised by peo- ple living longer due to declining fertility rates and increasing life expectancy [11]. Because of population ageing, the population of older adults aged 65 years or older is expected to more than double by 2050 [11,12]. Although population ageing is more rapid in high-income countries [13], it is being experienced by every country. Thus, population ageing and climate change both prevail on a global scale, which means their respective impacts can reach every jurisdiction.

Like climate change, population ageing affects everyone. Suffice it to say that people of all ages are subject to the ageing process. As people age, they lose the ability to perform physical and social activities and are, therefore, less likely to manoeuvre daily challenges accompanied by climate change. If so, climate change preparedness programmes should include interventions enabling all ageing peo- ple to cope with or navigate climate change events. Research in the past decades shows increased advocacy for healthy ageing policies in response to climate change [14,15]. While some studies report policies already developed for fostering healthy ageing in contexts experiencing climate change events, others have reported poli- cies recommended by experts for the same purpose [14,16]. Healthy ageing is a process in which functional capacity is maintained to enable well-being in old age [17]. As such, healthy ageing policies against climate change would enable individuals to maintain functional ability and health over the life course. Functional ability encompasses autonomy, resilience, and successful coping with crises [18]. The above definition suggests that the result of healthy ageing is well- being in later life. Hence, the ideal policies for healthy ageing in response to climate change should be targeted at every ageing individual. What is unclear in the literature is whether policies for healthy ageing in response to climate change are targeted at the general population or specific groups (e.g.,

older adults and people with disability). Ascertaining who is targeted by stakeholders with the foregoing policies would unfold implications for improved action. Another issue is that policies already developed through formal legislation (category 1) and those recommended by experts for implementation (category 2) are obscured in the literature. A clear identification and analysis of these two categories of policies would facilitate their adoption and encourage research into their suitability. Copyright: © 2025 Asiamah et al . This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Data availability statement: All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files. Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work. Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.