Executive summary
The ageing of the world’s population will become one of the most significant
social transformations of the 21st century. Virtually every country in the world is
experiencing growth in the number and proportion of older people in their population.
In 2018, for the first time in history, people aged 65 or over outnumbered children
under five years of age globally.1
Similarly, climate change has the potential to deter
health, well-being, and livelihoods of the ageing population. Yet, the repercussions
of global ageing for climate action remains absent from debates on climate change.
To address this gap, this discussion paper makes the following key recommendations for action to
governments, donors and the international climate community ahead of the global stocktake at the COP28
climate talks and beyond: