SSE and SFL-affiliated researcher Nurit Nobel, who conducted this research during her time at Harvard University, together with Harvard University professor Michael Hiscox, ran a large field experiment with 12,985 homeowners in wildfire-prone areas of Australia. Participants received either a generic email or one personalized with their suburb name encouraging them to prepare their property before the 2023 summer fire season.
The results were clear: homeowners who received personalized messages were twice as likely to click for more information compared to those who received generic messages. This demonstrates that making climate risks feel local and personal can overcome the “out of sight, out of mind” problem. The approach is simple, scalable, and offers practical insights to improve wildfire preparedness and reduce risk.
Read more about the study: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-025-02352-w
Press Release: When climate risk hits home, people listen: Study reveals key to engagement – hhs.se – Stockholm School of Economics
