Impact of climate change on adolescent mental health : Mapping risk and protective factors : a scoping review protocol

Climate change is a major public health concern because it threatens fundamental determinants of health and well-being, including clean air, safe drinking water, good nutrition, and secure shelter (WHO, 2025). The 2025 Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change highlights a growing number of deaths linked to higher temperatures, with global average warming now reaching over 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels (Romanella et al., 2025). In addition to its physical health impacts, such as heat-related illnesses, respiratory diseases, and a rise in infectious diseases, there is also a growing body of evidence documenting its effects on mental health, particularly among vulnerable populations (Charlson et al., 2021). Mental health impacts of climate change manifest through multiple pathways. Direct exposures to climate-related disaster can lead to direct effects like post-traumatic stress disorder, acute anxiety, and depression. Beyond these direct impacts, climate change also affects mental health indirectly through chronic climate-related stressors, including displacement and migration and the loss of ecosystems and natural spaces. These ongoing stressors can contribute to psychoterratic syndromes such as climate anxiety, ecological grief, and eco-paralysis (Berry et al., 2010; Cianconi et al., 2023). The impacts of climate change are not equal, with certain populations more likely to bear its effects than others. Children and young people are among the groups most vulnerable to the climate crisis, facing disproportionate impacts to their mental health. Adolescence is a critical developmental period, both physically and psychologically, making youth more vulnerable and sensitive to environmental stressors. Furthermore, adolescents will also experience the long-term consequences of climate change more acutely than older generations, as they are likely to live through the projected increase in extreme weather events, environmental degradation, resource scarcity and other disasters (Clemens et al.,2022; Singh et al., 2022). A growing body of literature highlights the adverse mental health impacts associated with climate change. Building on this evidence, this review aims to identify the adolescent populations most vulnerable to these effects and the factors that promote protection in the context of climate change.