An Alipay user is displaying her Alipay Ant Forest virtual tree. The Alipay Ant Forest project rewards its users with “green energy points” each time they take a step to reduce their emissions. These points grow into a virtual tree on the user’s app, which Alipay matches by planting a real tree in partnership with local NGOs. Photo: IC PHOTO

Extreme weather and natural disasters due to global climate change, such as heatwaves, droughts, heavy rains, and floods, present daunting challenges to humankind today. Against the backdrop of climate emergency, cultivating pro-environmental behaviors among the public and promoting a green and sustainable lifestyle are crucial strategies for addressing climate change. Pro-environmental behavior, also known as environmental protection behavior or ecological behavior, refers to behaviors that can reduce environmental damage and enhance environmental quality.

In 2023, China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment, along with four other national departments or organizations, jointly released the newly revised Code of Conduct for Environmental Protection to provide a framework for pro-environmental actions. Encouraging the public to consciously adopt practices within the Code and integrate eco-friendly habits into daily life has become a major concern for governments and society at large. This article aims to explore the complex relationship between “knowledge” and “action” in pro-environmental behavior from a psychological perspective, as well as analyze the “knowledge-action” dilemma the public face and offer insights for effectively promoting sustainable practices.

Knowledge-action dilemma

Without knowledge, there can be no proper action. Limited environmental knowledge is one of the key obstacles preventing the public from practicing pro-environmental action. This phenomenon manifests in two ways: first, as the public’s insufficient scientific literacy concerning environmental issues; second, as their insufficient awareness and understanding of new environmental policies and environmentally friendly lifestyles.

In the context of climate change, for instance, the complexity of its causes has led to certain degree of climate skepticism, with some questioning whether climate change is real and whether it is a result of human activities. This skepticism not only weakens people’s sense of responsibility to address climate change, but also further diminishes their enthusiasm for environmental protection behaviors. At the same time, since the catastrophic consequences of climate change often seem far removed from everyday life, the public may fail to grasp its far-reaching economic and social impacts. This weakens their perception of the threat posed by climate change and further decreases their willingness to adopt sustainable practices.

In addition to skepticism, unfamiliarity with emerging environmental protection policies, such as carbon inclusion, carbon accounts, and carbon credits, along with concerns about the complexity of implementing these initiatives, limits public participation. Similarly, the public may fail to understand the tangible benefits of environmentally friendly living habits, such as choosing locally sourced food or avoiding overpackaged products. They may also lack the practical knowledge required for these actions, such as identifying and selecting local foods, which reduces motivation to break away from established habits and adopt new environmentally friendly lifestyles.

“Misconceptions” hamper action. Public engagement in pro-environmental behavior is often hindered by two cognitive biases: the tendency to underestimate the potential impact of individual pro-environmental behaviors on environmental improvement, and the tendency to underestimate others’ willingness and actual participation in such behaviors. These biases are closely related to the collective nature of environmental problems. Climate change, as a quintessential collective dilemma, is caused by collective action and requires collective solutions, leaving individuals unable to independently prevent or mitigate its global impact. Faced with this, individuals may feel helpless and confused, believing their individual actions can hardly exert a substantial impact. This sense of powerlessness may render them indifferent to climate issues and unwilling to adopt pro-environmental behaviors.

Furthermore, when addressing climate change necessitates collective action and cooperation, the ineffective enforcement of pro-environmental norms at the group level can lead individuals to mistakenly assume that others are unwilling to abide by these norms. This perception will negatively impact attitudes toward pro-environmental behavior: individuals might be unwilling to participate when they believe that others do not support pro-environmental behavior. Therefore, “pluralistic ignorance” often occurs in the response to climate change, whereby individuals generally assume that others are less supportive of pro-environmental behaviors, even when most people actually hold positive attitudes and are actively engaging in such actions.

“Shallow knowledge” cannot drive practice. The public are more likely to engage in pro-environmental actions only after gaining a deep understanding of environmental protection and aligning it with their own personal values. The process of taking action then reinforces these values of environmental protection, establishing a virtuous cycle. As guiding principles of life, values reflect the general motivation of individuals across various contexts and profoundly affect their beliefs and behavioral choices. Within the spectrum of human values, biospheric values emphasize improving the quality of nature and the environment, such as protecting the environment and preventing pollution, serving as the core internal driver for adopting pro-environmental behavior. Individuals with strong biospheric values are more likely to believe in the reality of climate change, its human causes, and its consequences, thus feeling a sense of responsibility to take action against it.

In addition, since individuals tend to accept information that is consistent with their values and perceive individual choices that support those values as more beneficial, those holding biospheric values are more focused on measures that mitigate climate change and more convinced that individual pro-environmental behavior can positively impact climate outcomes. However, not everyone prioritizes biospheric values, meaning these values do not always dominate their behavioral and decision-making processes. Therefore, it is urgent to reflect on how to cultivate and activate biospheric values among the public and progress from “shallow knowledge” to “true knowledge.”

Addressing the dilemma

First, knowledge of environmental protection should be disseminated together with scientific consensus. Scientific consensus refers to the views widely supported by the scientific community on certain scientific issues, representing the authoritative position on a specific topic. When faced with complex and uncertain scientific issues, the public tends to trust the judgment of experts. As an authoritative source of information, scientific consensus provides social proof that a particular action is correct and widely accepted. Therefore, in the face of climate change, providing scientific consensus on its causes, negative impacts, and potential solutions (for instance, “97% of climate scientists believe that human activities are the primary cause of global warming”) will help individuals better understand the scientific basis of climate change and the potential impact of individual actions.

Accordingly, at the practice level, the education sector and the media can leverage scientific consensus to carry out thematic lectures and public awareness campaigns on occasions such as the National Low-Carbon Day and Earth Day to raise public awareness of environmental problems and their solutions. Policymakers can reference scientific consensus to popularize and promote new environmental protection policies and enhance their credibility and execution. Environmental protection organizations and communities can hold seminars, workshops, and other activities to provide a platform for scientists to communicate directly with the public and enhance the dissemination of consensus information.

Second, cognitive biases can be reduced by providing positive feedback and normative information on environmentally friendly behaviors. Positive feedback on individual pro-environmental actions can effectively reduce feelings of powerlessness. For example, this feedback could take the form of tracking the environmental benefits of individual behaviors like emission reduction, carbon reduction, and the accumulation of “green energy,” or comparing current and past behaviors to offer feedback on progress toward personal environmental goals or commitments. Moreover, at the collective level, normative information helps reduce “pluralistic ignorance,” such as information about how many people are practicing pro-environmental behaviors (or giving up harmful behaviors), how many support pro-environmental actions (or oppose harmful behaviors), and that an increasing number of people are adopting environmentally friendly practices. Such information helps individuals perceive social norms supporting environmental actions, making them more willing to adopt pro-environmental behaviors.

In practice, applications and tools, such as carbon footprint calculators and energy-saving challenges, can be developed and promoted to help individuals track and quantify the environmental benefits of their own behaviors, allowing them to intuitively understand the environmental impact of their actions. A reward system can be established to recognize individuals or groups that have made significant contributions to environmental protection, such as awarding a green certificate of honor or “Star of Green Communities,” to encourage more people to participate in environmental protection. In addition, social media platforms can be leveraged to encourage users to share their pro-environmental behaviors and achievements, thereby facilitating positive incentives and gaining support from social norms.

Finally, multiple strategies should be adopted to cultivate and activate biospheric values. Values are malleable, particularly during the formative stages of an individual’s life—such as childhood and adolescence. Conducting environmental education at home and in school can help children and adolescents scientifically understand the causes of environmental problems and their negative impacts while encouraging them to adopt pro-environmental behaviors, thereby gradually shaping biospheric values. Values are also context-sensitive, meaning certain values are more likely to be activated in specific situations and influence behaviors. For example, activities like “20 Minutes in the Park,” which promotes positive interaction with nature, strengthens people’s connection to the environment. This connection can increase an individual’s inclination to regard themselves as part of nature and believe that harming nature is equivalent to harming themselves, thereby stimulating a sense of responsibility to protect the environment. Over time, this understanding may gradually transform into cross-situational biospheric values. In addition, group support for biospheric values is also crucial. When individuals perceive that the group upholds biospheric values, their own biospheric values and pro-environmental behaviors will also be reinforced. This effect is particularly significant among individuals who strongly identify with the group, even if they may not prioritize biospheric values themselves.

Jiang Jiang is a professor from the Faculty of Psychology at Beijing Normal University.