A large percentage of the population are part of generations that are now nearing retirement age, and this is likely to change what retirement looks like. The life expectancy of these groups is greater than that of any generation that came before them, they are more likely to have completed further education, and they are likely to be in better health than previous generations. These groups will have a greater need for active and successful aging than we have seen before, and the ability to adopt new communication technology will be far greater and of more significance in the future.
A large proportion of volunteers consists of people of retirement age, as people in that age group tend to have more free time and are better off financially than younger people. In the past few decades, the number of older volunteers has also increased significantly due to the increased life expectancy and improving health of the older generations. The latest figures from Vive, a welfare research and analysis centre in Denmark, show an increase of 28% for people aged 67 and over and a 43% increase for people aged 77 and over in terms of their participation in voluntary work compared to 20 years ago. A large number of these volunteers are in good financial standing, with an extensive education and in relatively good health. People over the age of 65 are generally much healthier, more resourceful, and more active now than people their age were 20 years ago, especially in their first years after leaving the labour market. Simultaneously, society's ideas about old age have changed. The idea that you should be of utility, not just to yourself and your family, but also to society, has become more widely spread since the 1990s. This is reflected in the greater involvement of pensioners in voluntary work.
Volunteers are involved in various projects, but in recent years, these groups have become increasingly more involved in the discussion about climate issues. To some extent, this work is inspired by the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, but what has been primarily driving people to participate in projects in this field is the ever-deteriorating future prospects in light of the lack of progress in the fight to reduce greenhouse gas emissions due to human activities on Earth. You will find climate activists in all age brackets, but in recent times older people have become increasingly prominent in this arena, not least in the Nordic countries and other Western European countries.
In light of the development that has been described here, the Icelandic government decided to highlight the work of seniors on climate issues during Iceland's chairmanship of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2023. The title of the project was “Äldre folk och klimat – Nytta för båda två” (Seniors and Climate Issues – For the Benefit of Both), which refers, on the one hand, to the enormous human resources and extensive knowledge that are presented in healthy people of retirement age, and on the other hand, to the potential positive contribution of this group to the climate debate—for the benefit of future generations.
As discussed above, the project in question was part of Iceland's chairmanship programme in the Nordic Council of Ministers, and was therefore, by its very nature, primarily financed by the Council of Ministers. The Ministry of the Environment, Energy, and Climate was managing the project on behalf of Iceland in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Labour Market. The University of the Third Age (u3a) was consulted in the preparation of the project, and the consulting company Environice was brought in to lead the project and oversee the implementation of its individual components.
According to the project brief, the project in question aimed to strengthen cooperation between groups of seniors in the Nordic countries in the field of climate issues. The project included all the countries and regions that are members of the Nordic Council of Ministers, i.e. the five Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden) and the three autonomous regions (Åland, the Faroe Islands, and Greenland.) Although, it was not possible to ensure the full involvement of the Åland Islands and Greenland in the project. The project’s objective was to involve more older people in climate issues by creating a Nordic platform for the exchange of ideas, networking, inspiration, and inspiring role models, while promoting the permanent physical and mental health of the participants.
The project was divided into three phases or work components:
Compiling an overview of parties, collaborations, and projects of seniors in the Nordic countries in the field of climate issues.
Preparing, convening, and leading a seminar on seniors and climate issues.
Compiling a report with basic information, a summary from the seminar, and recommendations to the authorities in the Nordic countries about what they could do to support the work of seniors in the field of climate issues.
The report published here contains the results of the project, but a working document (interim report) had been published previously with the key conclusions from the first work component. Information presented there has been incorporated into this report.
The structure of the present report is that Section 2 gives an overview of the collaboration of seniors in the Nordic region in the field of climate change (in fact an improved version of the interim report;) Section 3 contains a brief discussion of the European network being developed by senior climate groups on the continent; Section 4 reports on the project seminar that was held in Reykjavík on September 27th–28th in 2023; and the main conclusions are summarised in Section 5. This includes recommendations to the authorities in the Nordic countries about what they could do to support the work of seniors in the field of climate issues. At the end of the report there is a bibliography, as well as an appendix containing a list of those who participated in the seminar.