The power of loss: message framing, climate anxiety, and engagement in personal carbon trading.

ABSTRACT: As global carbon emissions continue to rise and climate targets grow increasingly urgent, promoting voluntary low-carbon behaviors has become a critical component of climate policy. Among various behavior-oriented instruments, Personal Carbon Trading (PCT) offers a promising yet underutilized strategy for incentivizing individual emissions reduction, though public participation remains limited due to psychological and communicative barriers. This study investigates how message framing (gain vs. loss) influences individuals' willingness to participate in PCT, and whether this effect is mediated by climate change anxiety (CCA) and moderated by two psychological traits: felt responsibility (FR) and green self-efficacy (GSE). Drawing upon Prospect Theory, Norm Activation Theory, and Self-Effic

SUBMITTER: Li T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12751754 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature