U.K. residents more concerned about climate change than dying from a car accident

A new study just released in the Journal of Risk Analysis suggests that U.K. residents may be more concerned about climate change than traffic accident mortality. The Newcastle University Business School research team found that U.K. residents that are more affected by climate change value reducing extreme weather event mortality risks almost two times more than reducing traffic accident mortality risks. 

There is widespread understanding that climate change’s impact on human health needs to be accounted for in policies. In Europe, research predictions have shown that the U.K. will be the most affected by climate change and the extreme weather events that occur in the future. It is predicted that by 2100, extreme weather events will be commonplace across the U.K.  

Based on that growing risk in the U.K., this study examined how residents are valuing climate change mortality risk in comparison to traffic accident mortality risk. The study revealed that U.K. residents who are psychologically closer to extreme weather events are already concerned about the risks – more than car accidents.