Are climate-driven disaster fatalities associated with Europeans’ perception of responsibility for climate change?

Abstract

Meteorological, hydrological, and climatological disasters in Europe are becoming more widely reported. The scientific community faces the challenge of detecting whether there is a climate change signal and if individual events can be attributed to climate change. Using the European Social Survey, the Emergency Event Database (EM-DAT) and national data, this paper examines whether the deaths of European citizens caused by climate-driven disasters are associated with individual perceptions of responsibility for contributing to climate change reduction. We find robust evidence that people who live in European countries that are highly exposed and vulnerable to disasters feel a higher personal responsibility for reducing climate change than in other countries. This sense of responsibility is also higher for those who live in countries with a higher share of energy from renewable sources, higher public expenditure on tertiary education, a lower risk of poverty or social exclusion, higher economic development, and higher quality of governance than others. We further identify the typical individual characteristics of those who feel most responsible for addressing climate change drivers. These people believe that climate change is mainly caused by human activity, are extremely worried about climate change, are in middle age, have completed tertiary education, have a high income, and do not belong to any religion or denomination. With evidence of rising levels of perceived responsibility for climate change, both climate mitigation and adaptation policies can be shaped and communicated to citizens to encourage greater support for climate policy.

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ORCID for Emma L. Tompkins: orcid.org/0000-0002-4825-9797

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