80% of New Yorkers believe their city is not prepared for climate-related risks, according to a recent survey conducted by The Economist Impact magazine and supported by Zurich Insurance Group. The survey, which sampled 500 New Yorkers, showed that only 6% of respondents believed the city was prepared for climate-related risks. In contrast, 11% believed the city was not prepared at all, while 3% were unsure if the city was prepared.
The survey is part of a larger report titled “Building Resilience from the Ground Up: Assessing City-Level Approaches to Climate Risk and Adaptation”. The report studied 10 major cities around the world, including Amsterdam, Cairo, Cape Town, Dubai, Jakarta, Madrid, Mumbai, New York City, Sao Paulo and Tokyo. The study aims to provide actionable strategies to build resilient urban environments that can withstand the adverse effects of climate change.
The report shows that there is an opportunity for private companies to strengthen capacity for extreme weather and help individuals make more meaningful changes as city residents believe that governments are not doing enough to prepare for the response. Zurich Resilience Solutions (ZRS), using Zurich’s proprietary climate data for portfolio analysis and risk assessment, can play a key role in supporting urban areas, businesses and communities in developing strong strategies to increase their resilience and secure a sustainable future.
The study found that only 16% of respondents in the 10 cities surveyed believed their city was well prepared for climate-related risks such as heatwaves, air pollution, water shortages and flooding, while 8% believed they were not prepared at all. Views on climate preparedness varied, with 3% of respondents rating Sao Paulo and Tokyo as “well prepared” and just 6% of respondents saying so for New York City. In contrast, Cairo was considered the most prepared city for climate risks, with 37% of respondents rating it “well prepared.”
More than 41% of respondents believed their city’s water management infrastructure was at risk, 38% were concerned about possible water shortages or droughts, and 37% were concerned about flooding. Heatwaves were identified as the most pressing physical risk of climate change by 54% of respondents.
Half of respondents believe that national governments should be the primary party responsible for improving urban climate adaptation, while 46% believe that local governments are the primary party responsible. More than 58% of respondents believe that the private sector is not doing enough to support urban climate adaptation, while 57% of respondents believe that lack of cooperation between the public and private sectors is the main obstacle to urban climate adaptation.
The survey found that almost all respondents are taking measures to improve their own resilience or plan to take measures within the next year, ranging from saving water to changing eating habits to improving energy efficiency. However, obstacles include high costs, insufficient knowledge and lack of trust in government policies.
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