Opportunities for individual, household and community level climate change adaptation in Ireland

As recognised by the Climate Change Advisory Council in its 2020 annual review report (CCAC, 2020), the literature on climate change adaptation tends to focus on the role of government and state action, with less attention given to the potential role of individuals, households and local communities in adapting to climate change risks. However, this lacuna overlooks the necessity of a ‘whole-of-society’ approach to adaptation to complement a whole-of-government response to reduce exposure to climate change risks and to cope with vulnerability to further impacts. In this paper, we aim to provide a review of individual and household level adaptation. This will address risk factors at a household scale and the socio-economic dimensions of climate change vulnerability.