Identification of factors affecting public willingness to pay for heat mitigation and adaptation: Evidence from Guangzhou, China

Abstract

Urban heat is a critical problem due to global warming and heat island effects. Urban heat will be further aggravated in the coming decades. It is essential to develop heat action plans for heat mitigation and adaptation, while limited studies have been carried out to support this. Focusing on the payment for heat-resilient infrastructure, this study investigated public willingness to pay (WTP), based on an empirical study in Guangzhou, China. In particular, this study analyzed heat-related impacts on daily functions, heat-related physiological and psychological impacts and associated symptoms, heat-related perception, awareness, knowledge, and familiarity, the WTP and payment amount, and the associated mechanisms. The results indicated that outdoor activities and work/study were the two most affected daily functions. The levels of the respondents' heat-related awareness, knowledge, and familiarity were significantly lower than their perceived heat severity. Moreover, the severity of psychological impacts was the same as that of physiological impacts. Heat-related psychological impacts have received less attention, in both research and practice, compared with physiological impacts, so that psychological impacts deserve more attention in future studies. With the analysis of 352 valid questionnaires, this study showed that >90% of the respondents expected the government to be involved in the payment for heat-resilient infrastructure, while about 42.3% of the respondents could support the payment. About 38.4% of the respondents directly expressed that they could pay for heat-resilient infrastructure, and 27.3% of the respondents did not care. At last, it is estimated that the average payment amount could be 19.9, 23.8, and 27.6 Yuan, among all respondents, according to the conservative, median and aspirational scenarios. The results also found that heat-related impacts on sleep/rest and heat adaptation awareness had significantly positive impacts on payment willingness. The experience of heat-related psychological illness and heat adaptation awareness had significantly positive impacts on the payment amount. Overall, this paper provides a reference for understanding heat-related payment issues and is conducive to formulating effective and proper economic support for improving heat mitigation and adaptation capacity.