Climate change information in search of decision-makers: Why do managers (not) consider climate change in their long-term planning projects?

Over the last years the scientific community published a lot of information about climate change, in order to help organizations to adapt to climate change. There is however, little research on the effective practices of managers with respect to climate change information, and little evidence that managers consider climate change information in their long-term projects when those projects are sensitive to future changes in climate. We selected 10 projects in the British built environment sector, and conducted 18 interviews with 20 managers to understand their attitude towards climate change; and the institutional, organizational and individual barriers and triggers to the integration of climate change information in long-term planning projects. This exploratory research shows that while most respondents support climate change adaptation, organizations have not yet introduced climate change assessment in their decision-making procedures and routines. The integration of climate change information in the management of long-term projects in the built environment is still a rather ad-hoc phenomenon, which strongly depends on external pressures, and the presence of 'sustainability champions'. The paper concludes with some recommendations for organizations promoting climate change adaptation and opens some research questions about the adoption and maintenance of decision-making procedures for managing climate change uncertainty.