Flood risk and climate change: A disconnect between homeowners’ awareness and mitigating actions?

Abstract

Based on two surveys among Dutch homeowners, we find evidence for a disconnect between flood risk awareness and intentions to mitigate climate change. In terms of awareness, we find that owners of at-risk properties are 9.8 percentage points more likely to see floods as the main threat to their home. However, at-risk owners are also 4.6 percentage points less likely to consider improving their property’s energy efficiency. Trust in flood protection turns out to be a moderator variable. In particular, at-risk owners with high levels of trust are less likely to consider improving energy efficiency than at-risk owners with low levels of trust in flood protection. We discuss implications for climate risk communication.

Keywords

• Homeownership
• Floods
• Climate change mitigation
• Climate risk communication