We need climate change mitigation and climate change mitigation needs the ‘We’: a state-of-the-art review of social identity effects motivating climate change action

Abstract

Effectively fighting global warming requires large groups to engage in concerted action. In the present review article we aim to understand how human appraisals and responses to the challenge of climate change are shaped by social identities (i.e. people’s membership in specific social groups). We first describe the recent Social Identity Model of Pro-Environmental Action (SIMPEA), linking social identity theorizing to the study of climate action. Then, we review research on how collective climate action is driven by social identification, ingroup norms, group-based emotions, and collective efficacy beliefs. Finally, we focus on how very inclusive social identities (spatially or temporally), such as global identification, may provide a unique opportunity to advance interventions fostering people’s climate action.