Does Economic Inequality Negatively Predict Pro-Environmental Engagement? Testing the Mediating Role of Future Orientation

Climate change poses extensive threats to human survival, highlighting the urgent need to promote pro-environmental engagement. We propose that economic inequality undermines pro-environmental engagement by reducing individuals’ future orientation (i.e., the extent to which people attend to or prioritize future outcomes). Across three studies, we tested this prediction using cross-national secondary data (Study 1, N = 35,017), an online survey (Study 2, N = 885), and an online experiment (Study 3, N = 299). Our results consistently showed that economic inequality negatively predicted pro-environmental engagement reflected in intention and behavior measures, and that future orientation accounted for this association. Specifically, exposures to or perceptions of higher economic inequality shifted individuals’ focus away from long-term outcomes, thereby reducing environmentally friendly actions. These findings highlight economic inequality as a barrier to sustainable behavior and suggest that reducing inequality or reshaping inequality perceptions may promote collective actions to protect the natural environment.