Deeds and Words: The Role of Behavior-Advocacy Consistency of Climate Scientists in Communicating the Scientific Consensus on Climate Change

Climate change mitigation requires effective ways to foster pro-environmental solutions and policies. This study examined whether messages highlighting scientific consensus on human-caused climate change — when delivered by climate scientists exhibiting varying levels of pro-environmental behaviour — will enhance public support for climate policies and willingness to adopt eco-friendly lifestyles. In an online experiment (N = 1,659), participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: (1) control condition with no message; (2) simple consensus condition, featuring a message on the consensus regarding climate change; (3) consensus + inconsistent behaviour condition, where the consensus message was delivered by a scientist displaying anti-environmental behavior; or (4) consensus + consistent behaviour condition, where the message was delivered by a climate scientist demonstrating pro-environmental behaviour. Results showed that scientists’ perceived credibility was highest when their behaviour was consistent with their advocacy and lowest when it was inconsistent. Consistency also increased support for pro-environmental policies compared to the control condition, although no difference emerged between consistent and inconsistent conditions, providing only partial support for this hypothesis. No significant effects were observed for willingness to change one’s lifestyle. Overall, while pro-environmental scientists may enhance their credibility, their impact on public attitudes and behavioural intentions appears limited.