The heat is on: How can long-term care systems in Europe and Central Asia promote climate adaptation?

This working paper explores strategies and interventions that Long-Term Care Systems in Europe and Central Asia could adopt to strengthen the climate resilience of people with functional limitations and their caregivers. The analysis considers biological and health factors, social circumstances, and structural conditions that heighten vulnerability to both climate shocks and gradual changes such as rising temperatures.

The analysis points to several key policy messages:

• Older people and those with functional limitations are disproportionately affected by climate hazards, making LTC systems a natural platform for climate adaptation.
• Climate resilience in LTC does not necessarily require the development or expansion of new services and support but the adaptation of existing ones, ensuring preparedness and continuity.
• Measures must be timed and sequenced-before, during, and after hazard events-to reduce disruption, safeguard lives, and reach vulnerable populations both within and outside formal LTC systems.
• OECD county experiences, such as weather alerting systems tied to LTC responses, registries of vulnerable individuals, and facility adaptation standards, demonstrate practical models that can be tailored to ECA contexts.
• Embedding climate adaptation into LTC reforms is urgent. Doing so provides a dual benefit: stronger systems to meet rising care needs from demographic change and greater resilience to the climate hazards that increasingly shape the region's future.