In the current context of climate emergency, universities face a double challenge: not only to transmit knowledge but also to become spaces of social transformation capable of fostering sustainable attitudes and behaviours. The university stage is a crucial moment in which young people consolidate values and define their civic commitment to the environment. Nevertheless, little is known about how pro-environmental behaviours (PEB) evolve throughout students' academic trajectories and which factors explain such variation.
This study addresses this question through a longitudinal design with two waves of online questionnaires. A total of 286 students were surveyed in their first year and followed up in their third year, allowing for paired analyses of their evolution. The sample included degrees from different fields of knowledge (psychology, computer science, mathematics). The questionnaire covered five types of PEB, ranging from community-oriented actions—such as environmental volunteering—to political consumption practices, such as boycotting products for ecological reasons. Binary logistic regression models were applied to estimate the probability of behavioural change and to examine the role of intrapersonal variables (e.g., moral obligation), psychosocial variables (e.g., perceived social norms), and sociodemographic variables (e.g., gender).
The study proposes two main hypotheses: (H1) the probability of engaging in PEB increases as students progress through their university studies; (H2) this change is not homogeneous across fields of knowledge, but more pronounced in social sciences and humanities than in STEM disciplines.
Preliminary results indicate that each behaviour follows a differentiated dynamic, and that variables such as gender and social class significantly moderate the probability of engagement. Overall, these findings highlight the need for universities to adopt an active role in promoting sustainability, designing specific strategies that support students in building an environmentally committed citizenship.