Human Rights of Older Persons and Climate Change

The document examines the unique vulnerabilities of older people to climate change, noting that by 2050 up to 250 million older adults may face dangerously high temperatures. It highlights a lack of binding international agreements to safeguard their rights and references a 2024 European Court of Human Rights ruling regarding the Swiss Parliament's failure to protect older women. The paper concludes that older adults are a vital resource for climate action due to their economic power and local environmental knowledge.

• Older people face significant threats to their human rights—including rights to life, health, food, water, housing, work, culture, and development—due to climate change. Specific risks include exposure to extreme heat, where up to 250 million older adults may be affected by 2050, and the disproportionate impact of tropical cyclones and flooding, which can lead to disease and mental health issues through isolation.
• Vulnerability among older populations is determined by the interaction of climate hazard intensity, exposure, susceptibility, and coping capacities. The highest vulnerability is found in individuals with limited autonomy, low incomes, disabilities, or poor social ties, who have the least capacity to recover from extreme weather events.
• There is a lack of binding international agreements protecting the human rights of older people, and they are seldom mentioned in international climate accords. However, a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights in April 2024 found that the Swiss Parliament failed to protect older women from global warming impacts.
• Older adults can be a strategic asset in climate action because they often possess voting power, economic and financial resources, and local environmental knowledge. Their involvement can improve local community resilience and social integration.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2024). Human Rights of Older Persons and Climate Change. https://www.sei.org/publications/human-rights-older-persons-climate-change/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Human Rights of Older Persons and Climate Change. 2024. https://www.sei.org/publications/human-rights-older-persons-climate-change/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Human Rights of Older Persons and Climate Change |date=30 September 2024 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/human-rights-older-persons-climate-change/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2024human, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Human Rights of Older Persons and Climate Change}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2024}, month = sep, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/human-rights-older-persons-climate-change/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }