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To reduce global greenhouse gas emissions in order to limit global warming to 1.5°C, individuals and households play a key role. Behavior change interventions to promote pro-environmental behavior in individuals are needed to reduce emissions globally. This systematic literature review aims to assess the a) evidence-based effectiveness of such interventions and b) the content of very successful interventions without limiting the results to specific emitting sectors or countries. Based on the “PICOS” mnemonic and PRISMA statement, a search strategy was developed, and eligibility criteria were defined. Three databases (Embase, PsycInfo, and Web of Science) were searched to retrieve and review potential literature. As a result, 54 publications from 2010 to 2021 were included in the analysis. The results show that most interventions only have small positive effects or none at all. A total of 15 very successful interventions focused on the sectors of mobility, energy, and waste and incorporated improved (infra-) structures, education, feedback, enablement or made the sustainable option the default. Six evidence-based recommendations for content, timing, and setting are deducted and given for interventions on enhancing pro-environmental behavior (PEB). In summary, although the various interventions and intervention types to promote PEB differ in their effectiveness, very successful interventions have common elements. Future research should focus on high-/low-impact and high-/low-cost behavior to develop interventions that aim at high-impact but low-cost behavior changes, or avoid low-impact but high-cost behavior.
The effects of climate change lead to increasing social injustice and hence justice is intrinsically linked to a socio-ecological transformation. In this study, we investigate whether justice sensitivity motivates pro-environmental intention (PEI) and behavior (PEB) and, if so, to what extent emotions and moral disengagement determine this process. For this purpose, we conducted two quota-sampling surveys (Study 1: N = 174, Study 2: N = 880). Multiple regression analyses in both studies suggest that a higher perception of injustice from a perpetrator’s, beneficiary’s, and observer’s perspective is associated with an increased PEI. However, moral disengagement best predicted PEB and PEI. Guilt and authentic pride were found to be emotional predictors of PEI. Additionally, mediation analyses demonstrated that guilt mediates the connection between both perpetrator and beneficiary sensitivity and PEI. These results suggest that when the predominant originators of climate change (i.e., individuals from industrialized countries) perceive global climate injustice from the perspective of a beneficiary or a perpetrator, they experience guilt and have a higher PEI. Based on this mechanism, it seems promising to render global injustice more salient to those responsible for activities that lead to climate change to motivate them to adapt their behavior. The role of moral disengagement and victim sensitivity as barriers to pro-environmental behavior is discussed in this context.
In this article, we address the climate crisis as a moral issue and discuss the relevant moral and emotional processes and the role of the media underlying the motivations of individuals to behave in a less carbon-emitting manner. We provide theoretical insights from social psychology and emotion research and empirical data based on an online survey from Germany (N = 979). In the theoretical part, we outline the role of emotions in influencing carbon-related behavior, with a particular focus on self-condemning (e.g., guilt or shame), self-praising (e.g., pride), or other-suffering emotions (e.g., empathy). We further summarize the reasons for the low influence of the media on carbon-related behavior compared to the COVID-19 pandemic. The empirical results confirm that participants reported other- suffering and self-condemning emotions in response to news content and rated their likelihood of personal behavior change as high when confronted with news about the climate crisis on a daily basis, as has been widely the case during the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue that the media is responsible for regularly reporting on the victims of the climate crisis in order to generalize self-condemning and other-suffering emotions into affective attitudes. Opinion leaders can function as role models for low-carbon behavior.
The reduction of individual carbon consumption could make an important contribution to the worldwide effort to limit global warming. Based on Bandura’s theory of moral disengagement, we hypothesized that the propensity to morally disengage concerning high-carbon behaviors (e.g., eating meat or traveling by plane) is one important factor that prevents individuals from reducing their carbon footprint. To measure the propensity to morally disengage in high-carbon-related behavior contexts, a questionnaire (MD-HCB) was developed and psychometrically validated in an online study with a German sample (N = 220). Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that the final nine-item scale had a one-dimensional structure, as intended. The internal consistency of the scale was excellent (Cronbach’s α = 0.94) and the scale interpretation had predictive validity for both past low-carbon consumption behavior and the intention to engage in such behavior in the future. Correlational analyses with relevant existing instruments confirmed the construct validity of the interpretations that can be drawn from the MD-HCB, as its resulting score is related to, yet separable from, the general tendency to morally disengage and is meaningfully connected to related constructs. A pre-study with a student sample (N = 89) not only helped to identify limitations in the study design but also showed a weak predictive ability of moral competence concerning high-carbon consumption behavior and intention to change. Based on our findings, future media campaigns designed to increase people’s intention to reduce high-carbon behavior could focus on the modification of common cognitive disengagement strategies.