Daijiworld Media Network - Mumbai
Mumbai, Mar 10: A new study has found that well-designed physical activity initiatives that promote walking, cycling and public transport can simultaneously help tackle climate change while improving public health and social equity.
Researchers, including those from Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, developed a conceptual framework called the “physical activity and climate change” model, which highlights how climate action and physical activity strategies can work together to deliver broader benefits.
The findings, published in Nature Health, suggest that aligning policies promoting physical activity with climate initiatives can produce stronger outcomes than addressing them separately.
“Aligning physical activity and climate change agendas is more powerful than addressing them separately, offering greater combined benefits for population and environmental health,” the authors wrote.
The research forms part of a series of three studies indicating that current global efforts to encourage physical activity are insufficient, and that coordinated policies are needed to ensure physical activity contributes to broader social goals such as climate resilience and public health.
According to the model, climate change itself can negatively affect physical activity. Extreme weather events such as heatwaves and floods may make outdoor environments unsafe or inaccessible, reducing opportunities for exercise.
However, initiatives encouraging active transport, including walking and cycling, as well as improved urban design, can help reduce reliance on motor vehicles and promote low-emission lifestyles.
A separate study published in Nature Medicine analysed physical activity data from 68 countries and found significant global inequalities in how people engage in physical activity.
The researchers found that access to leisure-based exercise was about 40 percentage points higher among socially advantaged groups, such as wealthy men in high-income countries, compared with disadvantaged groups like poor women in low-income nations.
Meanwhile, activity driven by economic necessity — such as manual labour — was more common among disadvantaged populations.
In a third study published in Nature Health, researchers examined 661 national policy documents from 200 countries developed between 2004 and 2025 to promote physical activity.
Although most countries have adopted policies encouraging physical activity, the study found that implementation remains limited. Only 38.7 per cent of the policies assigned responsibilities across three or more government sectors, such as health and education, indicating insufficient cross-sector collaboration.
Interviews with 46 stakeholders — including policymakers, academics and civil society representatives — revealed that low but gradually increasing political priority for physical activity remains a major barrier to effective implementation.