A study published in PNAS Nexus in June 2025 reveals that most Americans have a striking disconnect between how they perceive the impact of their personal habits on the climate and the actual effectiveness of those actions.
According to Madalina Vlasceanu, co-author of the report and Professor of Environmental Social Sciences at Stanford University,
“People over-assign impact to low-impact actions such as recycling, and underestimate the actual carbon impact of behaviours that are much more carbon-intensive, like flying or eating meat.”
Understanding the experiment
In a US-based study involving 3,900 participants, researchers tested two educational approaches to help people better understand which personal choices have the most significant impact on climate change.
Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups:
- Prediction group – participants were asked to rank the relative effectiveness of 21 climate-related behaviours, then received feedback comparing their answers to scientific data.
- Information group – participants were passively exposed to factual information on the climate mitigation potential of each behaviour.
- Control group – participants received no information at all.
According to the Associated Press (AP), the study identified the top three most effective individual climate actions as:
- avoiding air travel,
- choosing not to own a dog, and
- using renewable electricity.
Ironically, these were also the actions that participants most underestimated in terms of effectiveness.
By contrast, low-impact actions such as recycling, changing light bulbs, or washing clothes with less energy were the most overestimated by participants, despite having relatively minor effects on carbon reduction.
The power of climate education
The study found that participants initially held inaccurate beliefs about the relative impact of various actions—a finding consistent with earlier research. Many participants believed that buying energy-efficient appliances or recycling would make a significant difference, when in fact, avoiding just one long flight can offset far more carbon emissions.
However, when participants received corrective information, their understanding and willingness to take meaningful actions improved. Those who learned about the actual impacts were more likely to commit to high-impact behaviours (e.g., flying less) and less likely to focus on low-impact ones (e.g., recycling).
This suggests that climate education can do more than raise awareness—it can directly influence real-world behavioural change. Moreover, the research shows that even simple informational interventions can be as effective as interactive prediction exercises, while being more scalable and cost-efficient for broader implementation.
A surprising side effect
Despite the benefits of education, the researchers found one unintended consequence. Participants who received the interventions were less willing to engage in collective climate actions, such as voting, campaigning, or joining climate marches.
This outcome suggests a potential trade-off: while individuals may become more empowered to make better personal choices, they might also feel less inclined to engage in group-level advocacy.
The authors recommend that educators and policymakers balance their messaging by integrating discussions about collective action and civic engagement into climate literacy programmes. Doing so can ensure that increased awareness about personal responsibility does not come at the expense of broader social mobilisation.
Read the complete study: Climate action literacy interventions increase commitments to more effective mitigation behaviors. (PNAS Nexus, 2025).
Sources:
Goldwert, D., Patel, Y., Nielsen, K. S., Goldberg, M. H., & Vlasceanu, M. (2025). Climate action literacy interventions increase commitments to more effective mitigation behaviors. PNAS Nexus, 4(6). https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgaf191
Wells, C. (2025, August 13). People often miscalculate climate choices, a study says. One surprise is owning a dog. AP. Retrieved from https://www.ap.org/news-highlights/spotlights/2025/people-often-miscalculate-climate-choices-a-study-says-one-surprise-is-owning-a-dog/
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