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Are homeowners willing to adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change?

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Abstract

The need to adapt to climate change impacts, whilst simultaneously limiting greenhouse gas emissions, requires that the government’s efforts are joined by public action. In England and Wales, housing contributes significantly to the emissions and many properties are at risk of flooding. This paper investigates the preparedness of homeowners in England and Wales to make changes to their homes in response to the predicted effects of climate change. A telephone survey of 961 homeowners investigated their interest in purchasing mitigation and adaptation improvements against their concern about climate change, awareness of flood risk and attribution of responsibility for action. Whilst the majority of homes had some energy-saving improvements, few were found to have property-level flood protection. The high levels of awareness about climate change and flooding were coupled with the perception of risks as low. Whilst some respondents accepted personal responsibility for action, most believed that the authorities were responsible for flood protection, and would not pay the costs required to make their home more energy-efficient and better prepared for the eventuality of floods. The results suggest that there is scope for further improvement of energy-saving measures, and that the levels of adoption of flood-protection measures are very low. Multi-faceted strategies, including more effective communication of risks and responsibilities, incentives, and material support for the poorest, will need to be developed to overcome the current reluctance by homeowners to invest in flood-protection measures and further energy conservation solutions in the future.

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Notes

  1. The exact response rate is difficult to estimate, as the interviewers encountered a very high refusal rate associated with the focus on just owner-occupiers in this study.

  2. However, the EA signposts the public towards the Kitemark quality assurance scheme for flood products, which was introduced in 2003 and is managed by the British Standards Institution (Johnson et al. 2007).

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Acknowledgments

This research was carried out as part of the Resilient Homes project funded by the Environment Agency. Many thanks go to Professor David Percy (University of Salford), Dr Iain White (University of Manchester) and to the three anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of the Built Environment, University of Salford, Maxwell Building, The Crescent, M5 4WT, Salford, UK

    Erik Bichard

  2. School of Environment and Development, University of Manchester, Humanities Bridgeford Street Building, Oxford Road, M13 9PL, Manchester, UK

    Aleksandra Kazmierczak

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  1. Erik Bichard
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  2. Aleksandra Kazmierczak
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Correspondence to Erik Bichard.

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Bichard, E., Kazmierczak, A. Are homeowners willing to adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change?. Climatic Change 112, 633–654 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-011-0257-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-011-0257-8

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