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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0PLOS Climate

Adaptation as a catalyst for social change

  • Helen Adams1
  • Giovanna Gini2
  • Richard Dawson3
  • Hayley Fowler4
  • Katie Jenkins5
  • Stephen Jones6
  • Shruthi Krishnamoorthy7
  • Raghav Pant8
  • Shona Paterson9
  • Jaime Toney
  • Emma Yule
  • Rosie Witton
1 more authors
  • Ruth Wolstenholme
9 affiliations
  1. 1Department of Geography, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
  2. 2School of Engineering, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
  3. 3Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom
  4. 4Stockholm Environment Institute, Oxford, United Kingdom
  5. 5Northern Ireland Environment Link, Belfast, United Kingdom
  6. 6Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
  7. 7Centre for Global Lives, College of Business, Arts and Social Sciences, Brunel University of London, London, United Kingdom
  8. 8School of Geographical and Earth Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
  9. 9Verture, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
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Abstract

Adaptation to climate change is currently characterised by ever-increasing costs to maintain the status quo with respect to climate hazards. This gap is worsened by the fiscal austerity that characterises the current political and economic situation in many countries. These cuts reduce societal resilience through neglected public infrastructure, services and civic spaces generating vulnerability to shocks and an everyday lack of opportunity. Here we argue that without addressing economic austerity, the viability of current approaches to adaptation are severely compromised. Thus, engaging with, and shifting, societal values, norms and objectives in decision-making will be central to a more cost-effective and orderly form of adaptation. This requires amplifying the political voice of communities who often lack the power to effect change. In this framing, adaptation goes beyond (but still includes) responding to hazard, placing greater emphasis on investment in people and advancing their wellbeing. Adaptation becomes a political force driving social change and challenging the logic of economic austerity.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{adams2026adaptation,
  title = {{Adaptation as a catalyst for social change}},
  author = {Helen Adams and Giovanna Gini and Richard Dawson and Hayley Fowler and Katie Jenkins and Stephen Jones and Shruthi Krishnamoorthy and Raghav Pant and Shona Paterson and Jaime Toney and Emma Yule and Rosie Witton and Ruth Wolstenholme},
  journal = {PLOS Climate},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.1371/journal.pclm.0001052},
  url = {https://journals.plos.org/climate/article?id=10.1371/journal.pclm.0001052},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Adaptation as a catalyst for social change
AU  - Helen Adams
AU  - Giovanna Gini
AU  - Richard Dawson
AU  - Hayley Fowler
AU  - Katie Jenkins
AU  - Stephen Jones
AU  - Shruthi Krishnamoorthy
AU  - Raghav Pant
AU  - Shona Paterson
AU  - Jaime Toney
AU  - Emma Yule
AU  - Rosie Witton
AU  - Ruth Wolstenholme
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/21
JO  - PLOS Climate
DO  - 10.1371/journal.pclm.0001052
UR  - https://journals.plos.org/climate/article?id=10.1371/journal.pclm.0001052
AB  - Adaptation to climate change is currently characterised by ever-increasing costs to maintain the status quo with respect to climate hazards. This gap is worsened by the fiscal austerity that characterises the current political and economic situation in many countries. These cuts reduce societal resilience through neglected public infrastructure, services and civic spaces generating vulnerability to shocks and an everyday lack of opportunity. Here we argue that without addressing economic austerity, the viability of current approaches to adaptation are severely compromised. Thus, engaging with, and shifting, societal values, norms and objectives in decision-making will be central to a more cost-effective and orderly form of adaptation. This requires amplifying the political voice of communities who often lack the power to effect change. In this framing, adaptation goes beyond (but still includes) responding to hazard, placing greater emphasis on investment in people and advancing their wellbeing. Adaptation becomes a political force driving social change and challenging the logic of economic austerity.
SN  - 2767-3200
ER  -