Responsibility for future generations and climate change mitigation: A cross-national study of predictors of pro-environmentalism in Europe

Journal article

Kyle Fiore Law, Zhaoquan Wang, Christian T. Elbaek, Antoinette Fage-Butler, Panagiotis Mitkidis, Theofilos Gkinopoulos, Ewa Szumowska, Gabriela Czarnek, Adrian Dominik Wojcik, Simon Fulgsang, Dominika Jurgiel, Małgorzata Dzimińska, Izabela Warwas, Michal Parzuchowski, Olga Bialobrzeska, Mariola Paruzel-Czachura, Katarzyna Pypno-Blajda, Myrto Pantazi, Grégoire Lits, Bram Spruyt, Olivier Klein, Viktoria Cologna, Niels G. Mede, Stylianos Syropoulos
Journal of Environmental Psychology, vol. 106, 2025

DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2025.102729

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APA Click to copy
Law, K. F., Wang, Z., Elbaek, C. T., Fage-Butler, A., Mitkidis, P., Gkinopoulos, T., … Syropoulos, S. (2025). Responsibility for future generations and climate change mitigation: A cross-national study of predictors of pro-environmentalism in Europe. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2025.102729

Chicago/Turabian Click to copy
Law, Kyle Fiore, Zhaoquan Wang, Christian T. Elbaek, Antoinette Fage-Butler, Panagiotis Mitkidis, Theofilos Gkinopoulos, Ewa Szumowska, et al. “Responsibility for Future Generations and Climate Change Mitigation: A Cross-National Study of Predictors of pro-Environmentalism in Europe.” Journal of Environmental Psychology 106 (2025).

MLA Click to copy
Law, Kyle Fiore, et al. “Responsibility for Future Generations and Climate Change Mitigation: A Cross-National Study of Predictors of pro-Environmentalism in Europe.” Journal of Environmental Psychology, vol. 106, 2025, doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2025.102729.

BibTeX Click to copy

@article{law2025a,
  title = {Responsibility for future generations and climate change mitigation: A cross-national study of predictors of pro-environmentalism in Europe},
  year = {2025},
  journal = {Journal of Environmental Psychology},
  volume = {106},
  doi = {10.1016/j.jenvp.2025.102729},
  author = {Law, Kyle Fiore and Wang, Zhaoquan and Elbaek, Christian T. and Fage-Butler, Antoinette and Mitkidis, Panagiotis and Gkinopoulos, Theofilos and Szumowska, Ewa and Czarnek, Gabriela and Wojcik, Adrian Dominik and Fulgsang, Simon and Jurgiel, Dominika and Dzimińska, Małgorzata and Warwas, Izabela and Parzuchowski, Michal and Bialobrzeska, Olga and Paruzel-Czachura, Mariola and Pypno-Blajda, Katarzyna and Pantazi, Myrto and Lits, Grégoire and Spruyt, Bram and Klein, Olivier and Cologna, Viktoria and Mede, Niels G. and Syropoulos, Stylianos}
}

Feeling personally responsible for climate change is a key predictor of pro-environmental action. Recent U.S.-based research finds that people more strongly endorse responsibility to protect future generations (RFG) than responsibility to reduce climate change (RCC). Here, we conceptually replicated this finding across six European countries and tested whether RFG and RCC predicted climate-relevant attitudes beyond the U.S. context. Consistent with prior work, RFG was endorsed slightly more than RCC, and both types of responsibility significantly predicted support for climate policy. Additionally, RFG and RCC were positively associated with negative emotional responses to climate change and with attributions of increasing severe weather events, both past and anticipated, to climate change. These results suggest that even in less polarized political environments, responsibility to future generations is more widely endorsed than responsibility to mitigate climate change. Still, both constructs appear psychologically meaningful and help explain variation in climate concern and policy support.

Dr. Niels G. Mede

Responsibility for future generations and climate change mitigation: A cross-national study of predictors of pro-environmentalism in Europe

Journal article

Cite