‘We all know that we need to do more to respond to climate change – but what should social care be thinking about and doing?’
Adult social care systems across the UK are made up of people, buildings, infrastructure networks, supply chains, equipment and service provision from numerous providers. There are also lots of people and lots of travelling; for example, when a home carer is travelling across a large local authority to support lots of different people in their own homes. Services and buildings might also use high amounts of energy. All of this may contribute to climate change.
Some people who draw on care and support and their families may also be at increased risk during future climate emergencies, whether this is to do with flooding, changes in air quality, and/or extreme weather events/extreme heat – yet there seemed little evidence that the sector is preparing for this sort of future.
The evidence
We worked with the University of Birmingham’s Knowledge and Evidence Service to look at the evidence around the challenges that the social care sector needs to address in the face of climate change, and what the sector can do to address the challenges.
Other resources
Although these issues have often not been centre stage in debates about adult social care, there are a growing number of resources and conversations which can help.
Alongside research, IMPACT sees ‘evidence’ as including insights from lived experience and from practice knowledge – and this guide/the resources below include a mix of these different types of knowledge.
Lived experience
Published by Australian researchers (and therefore outside our UK-focused review), Watfern and Carnemolla (2025) call for more inclusive climate action, arguing that people with learning disabilities will be disproportionately affected by climate change yet are rarely included in conversations about more just environmental futures.
A similar point is made by Disability Rights UK – who argue that disabled people will be hardest hit by climate change but may often have limited access to knowledge, resources, and services to effectively respond to environmental change. They call for disabled people to be involved in all debates and in shaping solutions, and put forward a series of practical policy asks.
They are also working on a project called ‘Everyone’s Environment’ (with NPC and Re-engage), which summarises the potential impact on disabled and older people with some really powerful images and pictures.
The disabled people’s organisation, Inclusion Scotland, has a report on climate change, disabled people and climate action.
Policy and practice resources
Other resources include:
- Guidance and tools from the UK Health Security Agency on topics such as the flood-health action care for health and social providers and guidance for social managers on supporting people before and during hot weather.
- Strategies for decarbonising social care in Wales.
- Regulatory frameworks to assess how social care providers reduce their environmental impact, adapt to climate change and manage risk.
- A climate adaptation toolkit to help build climate resilient health and social care in Wales.
- Materials from the Climate Action and Social Care Collective in Scotland to explore climate action in the context of social care.
- Work by the Mayor of London and partners (including a practical checklist) to reduce the risk of heat-related premature deaths in care homes.
- In IMPACT’s scoping review of English local authority social care and climate change strategies and plans, one of the most prominent and easily searchable examples was from Solihull.
Feedback
Have you used or shared this guide, or one of our others? Have the actions made a difference to your practice or life? Tell us!