GHG Daily
1/20/2016
On average, Americans are willing to pay up to 2.4 percent of their income to avoid colder winters and hotter summers, according to a Jan. 15 report released by Resources for the Future. The study considers the “amenity value of climate” – what people would pay to experience warmer winters or avoid hotter summers and weighs that variable with wages and housing costs to demonstrate how much value people place on being able to live in their optimal environment.
The exact amount a person find reasonable to avoid the harsh effects of climate change are also dependent on region, the report finds. “Preferences for winter and summer temperatures are negatively correlated: households that prefer milder winters, on average, prefer cooler summers, and households that prefer colder winters prefer warmer summers. Households in the Midwest region, on average, have lower marginal willingness to pay to increase winter and reduce summer temperatures than households in the Pacific and South Atlantic census divisions,” according to the report.
