Key messages

• Effective climate policy requires decision-makers to understand the factors that help or hinder household and community adaptation.
• NSW DCCEEW produce a range of environmental social insights to inform policy and guide program design.
• Enviro Pulse – a quarterly survey asking NSW residents about their environmental motivations, behaviours and vulnerability – provides valuable insights into households’ climate adaptation needs, barriers, and opportunities.
• The Social Insights series unpack the survey findings in more detail, highlighting that a variety of responses may be needed as experiences and perceptions differ across the community and change over time.

Enviro Pulse – tracking change in NSW residents' environmental behaviours and sentiment since 2020

To help communities adapt to climate change, government policies and programs must be grounded in a clear understanding of what supports or hinders people in becoming more resilient. The NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) provides this understanding by producing environmental social indicators. The insights help to inform climate and environmental policy, guide program design and support on-ground delivery.

A key tool in this work is Enviro Pulse – a quarterly survey asking NSW residents a range of questions on their environmental motivations, behaviours and vulnerability. The survey captures community wellbeing, experiences and responses in relation to nature and climate across 100+ survey questions. Launched in 2020, the survey now has five years of valuable trend data. 

You can explore the Enviro Pulse results across eight key themes:

• NSW residents' environmental attitudes and behaviours
• Connection to place and nature
• Concern for the environment
• Awareness of climate change risks and impacts
• Experience and impact of severe weather events
• Climate-readiness of homes
• Energy use and motivations
• Community resilience and wellbeing.

The survey finds that people are generally satisfied with different aspects of their local environment, like air quality or access to green space. However, they see room for improvement for the overall condition of the natural environment in NSW.  Enviro Pulse shows that people are most concerned about environmental hazards that pose immediate and visible threats to the environment, human life, or property – such as floods or bushfires. Meanwhile, issues such as emission levels remain too abstract.  Similarly, the flow-on health and wellbeing impacts of climate change are less understood. 

Read the Social Insights series to explore how experiences and perceptions vary by factors such as age, gender, education level, or geographic location. The first two articles look at community concerns about natural hazards and their impacts, and what it means for adaptation planning. New chapters are expected to be released every few months.

Community insights are critical for adaptation planning

Enviro Pulse complements the environmental science that the Department delivers, by capturing the social dimensions of climate resilience. The survey identifies the needs, barriers and opportunities for NSW households to adapt to climate change. This information is critical for effective adaptation planning. For example, the survey tracks:

• community awareness of local risks
• personal experience with and impacts of severe weather events
• actions that households have taken to prepare for severe natural events
• levels of social capital and cohesion – key indicators of a community’s ability to cope with severe events and daily stresses.

The NSW Government has a role in responding and shaping community awareness of environmental issues of importance. Enviro Pulse can help understand:

• how is the environment and climate impacting communities
• are assumptions about resilience valid across the community
• which groups need most assistance from the government to prepare for climate risks
• how have results changed over time – are we tracking as desired?

The survey shows that experiences, awareness and perceptions vary across the community, highlighting that a range of tailored responses may be required to match community knowledge and circumstances. 

Enviro Pulse insights can be used to set context and support strategy planning, inform program development, support a theory of change, as well as provide indicators to measure change and impact.

Further reading

Social Insights series discuss Enviro Pulse results and implications for adaptation planning in more detail.