How psychology can help people live more climate-friendly lives – lessons from around the world

By Chiara Longoni, Bocconi University, Kimberly Doell, Universität Wien

Quick and easy interventions that inspire people to take direct climate action are the holy grail. Behavioural scientists and policymakers are keen to learn which small steps can make the biggest difference. One of the largest experiments ever conducted in climate change psychology shows that the same interventions have different outcomes depending on the specific context, and crucially, the country in which change is being driven.

New research by an international team of more than 250 scientists studied several environmental interventions and the way people responded to them in 63 countries.

In Austria, one of the best ways to increase effective pro-environmental behaviour, such as time spent planting trees, is to present people with information that shows climate change is already happening now, it is negatively affecting Europe and it is harmful to people nearby. This is what behavioural scientists call reducing psychological distance. This framing makes the risks and dangers of climate change feel more immediate and relatable, which encourages people to act against it.

But in Germany, a country that shares a similar language, culture and long history with Austria, the same intervention had a very different outcome. Participants tended to believe less in climate change, were less likely to support climate change mitigation policies and were less likely to plant trees.

The global outlook

Our team tested the effectiveness of 11 strategies designed to increase climate change awareness and climate action around the globe.

More than 59,000 participants were shown one of 11 possible interventions designed to influence their climate change beliefs, such as writing a letter to one’s nephew or reading information about climate change as though its effect were to occur very close to the reader. Then participants were surveyed to assess their belief in climate change, support for mitigation policies and involvement in different types of environmental action, such as planting trees.

Overall, 86% of people surveyed believed that climate change is happening, is a dangerous problem and is largely caused by humans.