Climate Change and Older Londoners: our steering group

We recently met with the three organisations who’ll be helping to steer our work on climate change with older people’s organisations.

As this part of our project will be focusing specifically on London, we’ve recruited two pan-London bodies, Age UK London and the Greater London Forum for Older People. Both have great links to grassroots work happening across the capital, reaching a broad range of older Londoners.

We’re also really pleased to have the national body Age UK on board too, to help us share the learning from the project across the country and build on policy thinking on this topic.

First thoughts

Here are a few first thoughts from our older people's cohort steering group team, explaining why they decided to get involved:

Gemma Bradshaw, Policy Adviser, Age UK

“Age UK is a national charity and social enterprise working to transform later life in the UK and overseas. We think preparing for climate change is important for organisations working with older people, because some people in later life will be less resilient to deal with climate impacts, such as flooding or heatwaves.

Organisations and older people themselves need to be able to make informed choices about avoiding risk and reacting to the unexpected, so this project provides a good opportunity to explore the challenges that climate change may bring."

Zara Ghods, Forum Development Officer, Greater London Forum for Older People 

“We need to be aware of the impact that climate change can have on our lives. The indirect effects of climate change can sometimes make it difficult to identify the root cause of the problem. I hope this project will help us unravel some of the complexities.

We are responsible for the wellbeing of this wonderful planet and must do everything possible to preserve it.

This is an opportunity for my own organisation to develop a project to tackle climate change which can involve all our forums across London and bring more awareness to the issue.”

Janine Aldridge, Policy and Voice Administrator, Age UK London

“Climate change is something that affects all of us, sometimes without us even being aware of it. I joined the steering group because I want to be a part of communicating this message to the older people of London. I’m keen to find out what climate change will mean for older Londoners. “