What Drives Young People to Act on Climate Change?
A new open-access study by Jan Činčera, Miloslav Kolenatý and colleagues sheds light on how climate-related emotions influence environmental behaviour among adolescents in Central Europe.
Published in Environmental Education Research, the study investigated the relationships between climate change emotions, attitudes, environmental self-efficacy, and pro-environmental behaviour among 6,477 secondary school students aged 17 from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary.
The findings reveal that emotions such as climate anxiety and concern about climate change are linked to everyday environmentally responsible habits, including recycling and energy conservation. However, these emotions do not directly translate into more deliberate forms of environmental action. Instead, their influence is mediated by two key factors: environmental self-efficacy, or the belief that one’s actions can make a difference, and eco-guilt.
Among all examined variables, environmental self-efficacy emerged as the strongest predictor of pro-environmental behaviour. Students who felt capable of contributing to solutions were significantly more likely to engage in environmentally responsible actions.
The study also found that girls reported higher levels of most climate-related emotions than boys, while differences between the three countries were negligible.
These results highlight an important implication for climate change education. Rather than focusing solely on raising awareness of environmental problems, educators should also help students develop a sense of agency and equip them with strategies for coping with difficult climate-related emotions. Supporting young people’s confidence in their ability to act may be one of the most effective ways to encourage meaningful environmental engagement.
Reference
Činčera, J., Kolenatý, M., Kroufek, R., Shah, S. A. A., Binka, B., Rosta, G., Sziva, D., Hengerics, A., Szarka, K., Mónus, F., Szilágyi-Csüllög, M., & Varga, A. (2026). Students’ climate change emotions, attitudes, and self-efficacy in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary. Environmental Education Research. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2026.2693520
