Preferences for coastal adaptation to climate change: evidence from a choice experiment

Adaptation to climate change is becoming increasingly crucial for coastal areas. This paper adds to the limited evidence on the trade-offs people are willing to make to support decision-making on adaptation strategies for coastal protection. The trade-off between alternative protection modes is conceptualized in a choice experiment in terms of six attributes: the extent of beach nourishment, dyke heightening, cliff protection, access to dunes, realignment of dykes and dunes, and cost in terms of a coastal protection levy. These attributes were selected and designed in, among others, close cooperation with governmental decision makers. When accounting for preference heterogeneity, three latent classes were identified among the more than 1800 participants of a nationwide online survey in Germany. Respondents who prefer extensive changes, respondents who are willing to pay for an increase in dyke height but are not ready to give up money for a change in any other attribute, and respondents who are not willing to cover any additional expenses for coastal adaptation to climate change. The results allow to assess a broad range of future adaptation strategies and thus provide not only to policy makers and the administration in the case study region important insights into peoples’ preferences.