Adaptation to climate variability: Evidence from German households

Using panel data originating from two extensive surveys conducted in 2012 and 2014, we investigate German households' adaptation behavior in response to indoor heat stress during summer months. Providing detailed information of household characteristics, behavior and technical equipment, our unique database allows us to estimate a random-eff ects probit model on households' vulnerability and adaptive capacity. The estimates indicate that even moderate increases in temperatures are suffi cient to trigger investments in adaptation measures: While the propensity to adapt is heterogeneous across socio-economic groups, an increase of one degree Celsius in average summer temperature is associated with a rise of 2.3 percentage points in adaptation probability.