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A megastudy of behavioral interventions to catalyze public, political, and financial climate advocacy

Danielle Goldwert,Sara M. Constantino,Yash Patel,Anandita Sabherwal,Christoph Semken,Cameron Brick,Anna Castiglione,Ramit Debnath,Kimberly C. Doell,Rachit Dubey,Ke Fang,Matthew H. Goldberg,Wei Ji Ma,Kristian S. Nielsen,Steve Rathje,Claudia R Schneider,Michael Sheldrick,G. Shreedhar,S. van der Linden,Janquel D. Acevedo,Raihan Alam,M. Boon-Falleur,Ondrej Buchel,Xinghui Chen,P. Cheng,Adrien Fabre,M. Feinberg,Joris Frese,Kylie Fuller,Marvin Helferich,J. Kantorowicz,Elena Kantorowicz-Reznichenko,Allen K. Kim,Joan J. H. Kim,Junho Lee,A. Marchewka,M. Mildenberger,Adam R. Pearson,John-Henry Pezzuto,Veronica Pizziol,Marjorie Prokosch,John Protzko,Guilherme A. Ramos,Willow Rose,David K. Sherman,Emma K Swanson,S. Syropoulos,Alessandro Tavoni,M. Thiel,L. Van Boven,Robb Willer,Tao Yang,Dominika Zaremba,Madalina Vlasceanu

Published 2026 in PNAS Nexus

ABSTRACT

Abstract Addressing climate change depends on large-scale system changes, which require public advocacy. Here, we identified and tested 17 expert-crowdsourced theory-informed behavioral interventions designed to promote public, political, and financial advocacy in a large quota-matched sample of US residents (n = 31,324). The most consistently effective intervention emphasized both the collective efficacy and emotional benefits of climate action, increasing advocacy by up to 10 percentage points. This was also the top intervention among participants identifying as Democrats. Appealing to binding moral foundations, such as purity and sanctity, was also among the most effective interventions, showing positive effects even among participants identifying as Republicans. These findings provide critical insights to policymakers and practitioners aiming to galvanize the public behind collective action and advocacy on climate change with affordable and scalable interventions.

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