Climate change hopelessness is prevalent globally, and it negatively impacts individuals' performance of pro-environmental behaviours (PEB). This research explores factors that may mitigate the effects of climate change hopelessness and sustain PEB, drawing on the life-span theory of control.


This pre-registered study proposes a theoretical model in which climate change hopelessness discourages persistent PEB through diminishing primary control striving. The model also proposes that secondary control strategies (positive reappraisal, lowering aspiration, and social comparison) can buffer the effects of hopelessness by compensating for the loss of primary control.


Canadian residents (N = 290) were recruited via Prolific to complete an online survey of the model variables, using established self-report measures of climate hopelessness, secondary control strategies, and primary control striving. PEB was measured using both self-reports and performance in the Work for Environmental Protection Task (WEPT). Data was analyzed by using the PROCESS macro to test the proposed moderated-mediation model.


Simple correlation analysis of the model variables revealed only a small positive relationship between self-reported PEB and WEPT performance, suggesting that these measures conveyed different information. Climate hopelessness, primary control striving, and two of the secondary control strategies (positive reappraisal and social comparison) correlated in expected ways (according to the theoretical model) with self-reported PEB but not WEPT performance. Initial (ongoing) tests of the moderated-mediation model yielded partial support for the hypotheses. There were significant direct effects of hopelessness and secondary control strategies on primary control striving and self-reported PEB, but no significant interaction between hopelessness and secondary control strategies.


Although not all hypotheses were supported, and some discrepancies emerged between self-reported and performance-based measures, the findings underscore the detrimental effect of climate change hopelessness on PEB. They highlight the potential offsetting effects of secondary control strategies to counter hopelessness in the context of climate change and support primary control striving and PEB.