Exploring the Impact of Perceived Climate Risk on Behaviour Relating to Climate-Smart Retrofitting
(2024) 19th Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES)- Abstract
- A recent rise in climate-related risks, encompassing floods, landslides, storms, and heat waves, has been noted across Sweden, resulting in significant property damage amounting to millions of Euros. While contemporary homes are being developed with climate-resilient designs, the existing housing stock remains exposed to the dynamic challenges of climate hazards. The primary research objective is to investigate how homeowners’ perceptions shape their decision-making processes concerning climate change adaptation. Through a comprehensive analysis of how these perceptions influence behaviours, particularly in the context of home renovation, this study aims to provide nuanced insights into the complicated dynamics of homeowners’ perspectives.... (More)
- A recent rise in climate-related risks, encompassing floods, landslides, storms, and heat waves, has been noted across Sweden, resulting in significant property damage amounting to millions of Euros. While contemporary homes are being developed with climate-resilient designs, the existing housing stock remains exposed to the dynamic challenges of climate hazards. The primary research objective is to investigate how homeowners’ perceptions shape their decision-making processes concerning climate change adaptation. Through a comprehensive analysis of how these perceptions influence behaviours, particularly in the context of home renovation, this study aims to provide nuanced insights into the complicated dynamics of homeowners’ perspectives. The main goal in analysing this is to highlight key challenges and opportunities for improving the climate resiliency of homes that have already been built. To achieve this, an online survey was conducted (N = 143) through the homeowner association portal, Villaägarna Kronoberg, over the entire Kronoberg region in the south of Sweden. The survey design incorporated key socio-economic (age, education, income, family structure) and building attributes (housing typology, connection to external grids, previously carried-out renovations, etc.). The theoretical framework employed for developing the questionnaire was based on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB); questions aimed at highlighting the homeowners’ attitudes, perceived behavioural control and behavioural intentions were created. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to analyse the results from the survey. The regression analysis indicates a strong correlation between the attitude towards climate change and climate adaptive behaviours, with attitude being the only statistically significant variable in the model. The results showed that the attitudes of homeowners in the Kronoberg region have a more direct impact on their actual behaviours than on their intentions to act. These results imply that effective strategies should go beyond raising awareness about climate risks. Given the significant role of cognitive attitudes in influencing climate-adaptive behaviours, policy interventions should aim to shift these attitudes in a more climate-conscious direction. The significant role of attitude in predicting climate adaptive behaviours underscores the importance of addressing climate change perceptions in promoting such behaviours. This paper serves as a localized case study over the Kronoberg region with the intention being to scale up the analysis over the whole of Sweden through another larger scale survey. The study’s findings provide a solid foundational basis for further evidence-based policy design geared towards urban renovation practices for Swedish homeowners. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/e4d22fb2-e357-488f-86aa-d6dcad2ef989
- author
- Sinha, Shashwat ; Pardalis, Georgios LU ; Mainali, Brijesh and Mahapatra, Krushna
- organization
- publishing date
- 2024
- type
- Contribution to conference
- publication status
- unpublished
- subject
- keywords
- Climate change, Climate Adaptation, Resilience
- conference name
- 19th Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES)
- conference location
- Rome, Italy
- conference dates
- 2024-09-08 - 2024-09-12
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- e4d22fb2-e357-488f-86aa-d6dcad2ef989
- date added to LUP
- 2024-10-07 15:24:38
- date last changed
- 2025-04-04 15:27:09
@misc{e4d22fb2-e357-488f-86aa-d6dcad2ef989,
abstract = {{A recent rise in climate-related risks, encompassing floods, landslides, storms, and heat waves, has been noted across Sweden, resulting in significant property damage amounting to millions of Euros. While contemporary homes are being developed with climate-resilient designs, the existing housing stock remains exposed to the dynamic challenges of climate hazards. The primary research objective is to investigate how homeowners’ perceptions shape their decision-making processes concerning climate change adaptation. Through a comprehensive analysis of how these perceptions influence behaviours, particularly in the context of home renovation, this study aims to provide nuanced insights into the complicated dynamics of homeowners’ perspectives. The main goal in analysing this is to highlight key challenges and opportunities for improving the climate resiliency of homes that have already been built. To achieve this, an online survey was conducted (N = 143) through the homeowner association portal, Villaägarna Kronoberg, over the entire Kronoberg region in the south of Sweden. The survey design incorporated key socio-economic (age, education, income, family structure) and building attributes (housing typology, connection to external grids, previously carried-out renovations, etc.). The theoretical framework employed for developing the questionnaire was based on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB); questions aimed at highlighting the homeowners’ attitudes, perceived behavioural control and behavioural intentions were created. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to analyse the results from the survey. The regression analysis indicates a strong correlation between the attitude towards climate change and climate adaptive behaviours, with attitude being the only statistically significant variable in the model. The results showed that the attitudes of homeowners in the Kronoberg region have a more direct impact on their actual behaviours than on their intentions to act. These results imply that effective strategies should go beyond raising awareness about climate risks. Given the significant role of cognitive attitudes in influencing climate-adaptive behaviours, policy interventions should aim to shift these attitudes in a more climate-conscious direction. The significant role of attitude in predicting climate adaptive behaviours underscores the importance of addressing climate change perceptions in promoting such behaviours. This paper serves as a localized case study over the Kronoberg region with the intention being to scale up the analysis over the whole of Sweden through another larger scale survey. The study’s findings provide a solid foundational basis for further evidence-based policy design geared towards urban renovation practices for Swedish homeowners.}},
author = {{Sinha, Shashwat and Pardalis, Georgios and Mainali, Brijesh and Mahapatra, Krushna}},
keywords = {{Climate change; Climate Adaptation; Resilience}},
language = {{eng}},
title = {{Exploring the Impact of Perceived Climate Risk on Behaviour Relating to Climate-Smart Retrofitting}},
year = {{2024}},
}