When climate risk hits home, people listen: Study reveals key to engagement with disaster preparedness messaging

(Press-News.org) A subtle change in how climate risk is communicated—mentioning a person’s local area—can significantly increase attention to disaster preparedness messages, according to a new study by researchers at the Stockholm School of Economics and Harvard University, published in Nature Human Behaviour. The findings offer a practical, low-cost strategy for governments, insurers and local authorities seeking to boost climate resilience in vulnerable communities.

In a large field experiment involving nearly 13,000 homeowners in wildfire-prone areas in Australia, the researchers tested whether emails mentioning recipients’ suburbs would prompt greater interest in wildfire safety.

They found that those who received localized messages were twice as likely to seek more information on protective measures compared with those who received generic communications.

“We know climate threats often feel distant and abstract,” says Nurit Nobel, lead author and researcher at the Stockholm School of Economics’ Center for Sustainability Research. “By mentioning people’s own suburb, the communication transformed an otherwise diffuse, uncertain risk into something concrete and understandable. This simple localization helped people connect the message to their own lives, and therefore nudged them towards action.”

Practical steps for homeowners

While some climate-related disasters are unavoidable, homeowners can take practical steps to reduce potential damage—such as clearing gutters, maintaining defensible space around their homes, and removing flammable materials before fire season. The emails in the study highlighted these simple, evidence-based actions.

“No one can prevent a flash flood or stop a wildfire from spreading,” Nurit Nobel adds, “but individuals can make their homes more resilient. Our study shows that how this information is communicated—especially when it feels local and personal—makes a real difference in whether people engage with it.”

While extensive research has examined how to motivate carbon-reducing behaviours to mitigate climate change, far fewer studies have explored how to encourage protective actions that help people adapt to the climate risks the planet is already facing. This study, conducted in partnership with a major Australian bank, focuses on that under-tested area: behavioural interventions for climate adaptation.

Urgent need for preparedness

The findings come as governments, insurers, and homeowners grapple with rising costs from climate-related disasters. Extreme weather events, like wildfires and floods, have increased sharply in recent years. In the U.S. alone, billion-dollar climate disasters have tripled in frequency since 1980. Likewise, Europe has seen escalating climate impacts, with recent years recording the highest number of wildfire-affected hectares on record.

Yet motivating individuals to take protective measures remains a persistent challenge, especially when climate threats are perceived as vague or far-off. While the intervention in this study produced a modest impact in absolute numbers, the researchers note that it can lead to substantial engagement when scaled.

Scalable, low-cost intervention

“In real-world settings, even modest changes in behaviour can have meaningful impact when applied across thousands or even millions of people,” says co-author Michael Hiscox, Professor at Harvard University.  “This behavioral intervention can therefore significantly increase the reach of preparedness information when applied broadly. What we have here is a scalable, low-cost intervention that could be used by private institutions and public authorities trying to encourage people to act before disaster hits.”

The researchers call for additional testing of localized messaging across different types of hazards and cultural contexts. They also stress the need for continued collaboration between academia and industry to develop and test real-world climate adaption strategies, as effective solutions require joint efforts across sectors.

Publication: “Enhancing climate resilience with proximal cues in personalized climate disaster preparedness messaging.” Nurit Nobel and Michael Hiscox, Nature Human Behaviour, online December 8, 2025, doi: 10.1038/s41562-025-02352-w

About the Stockholm School of Economics

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