A social science research agenda to accelerate public engagement in climate change adaptation

Rachel Harcourt; Suraje Dessai; Wandi Bruine de Bruin; Andrea Taylor

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1286525

A social science research agenda to accelerate public engagement in climate change adaptation

Front Psychol. 2023 Dec 4:14:1286525. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1286525. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Rachel Harcourt^#^{1

2

3}, Suraje Dessai^#^{2

3}, Wandi Bruine de Bruin^#⁴, Andrea Taylor^#^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Decision Research, Leeds University Business School, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom.
² ESRC Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy, Sustainability Research Institute, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom.
³ Priestley Centre for Climate Futures, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom.
⁴ Sol Price School of Public Policy and Dornsife Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Recent studies find that people in high-income countries now think of climate change impacts, such as flooding or periods of high temperature, as being of immediate relevance and concern. Individuals and households can take adaptation actions to help limit the severity of harm caused when climate impacts occur, for example, they could make adjustments to their homes such as installing flood gates or sun shades, or they could adapt their behavior such as staying indoors during the hottest part of the day. However, so far adaptation is not yet happening at the speed or scale needed to adequately prepare for the climate impacts already being experienced or those projected for the coming decades. Here, we propose an agenda for future social science research that would further our understanding of how best to increase engagement and action in climate change adaptation.

Keywords: action; climate change adaptation; communications; engagement; public perceptions; research agenda; social science.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. SD and RH acknowledge the support of the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) for the Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy (CCCEP; ES/R009708/1). WBB acknowledges funding from the Lloyd’s Register Foundation World Risk Poll (TWRP\100007).