Leiden University Student Repository

Mugnier, Ilan (2024)

The regional effect of weather disasters on climate attitudes: the case of the July 2021 floods in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and France

Master thesis | Public Administration (MSc)

Human-induced climate change is affecting weather and climate extremes worldwide, leading to losses and damages to nature and people. The literature has found mixed results on the effect of extreme weather events on climate attitudes. Using the EIB climate Survey data from 2019 to 2022, this thesis tries to assess the regional effect of floods on climate prioritisation, climate risk perception and the opinion that individual behaviour can make a difference in tackling climate change. It takes as a case study the July 2021 floods in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and France. Using a Differencein- Differences analysis with non-affected regions as a counterfactual, the thesis finds no statistically significant effect of the floods on climate attitudes at the regional level. However, consistently with the existing literature, the thesis emphasises the relevance of other good predictors such as political orientation, gender, economic risk perceptions, or age.

Climate change, extreme weather events, natural disasters, floods, climate attitudes, Western Europe

Author

Mugnier, Ilan

Faculty

Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs

Specialisation

Economics and Governance (E&G)

Supervisors

Lent, M. van

ECTS Credits

20

Language

en