Individual & systemic change are 2 sides of same coin. “…We suggest that social change arises from individuals’ agency within their roles in societal systems, and that this agency should be actively leveraged to achieve meaningful climate change mitigation.” www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Leveraging agency for climate change mitigation - Nature Climate Change

Climate debates often frame individual behaviour and systems change as distinct pathways to action. We suggest that social change arises from individuals’ agency within their roles in societal systems...

nature.com

As I mentioned recently, this graphics by @steveclimate.bsky.social is a great illustration to the article:

The ongoing heatwave in Europe shows us that we need climate action now more than ever. The good news is that each of us has the agency to do something in our lives. I spoke with @charlotte-kukowski.bsky.social about a new climate action framework she and her colleagues have developed.

How to use your agency for impactful climate action

Although modern life makes many of us feel powerless, we all have agency to act and stop the climate crisis.

sower.world

It is obviously true that systemic change is what matters. The big question is whether individual or social change can help bring that about. I think there are good arguments for that :) interesting article: bsky.app/profile/kris...

Kristian Steensen Nielsen@kristiansn89.bsky.social · 2mo ago

🔥 Individual or system change?🔥 This debate has been at the center of much of my social media engagement for years (causing a fair bit of frustration). Yet I have never published research directly addressing it. Until now. 🧵 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

In my work, I often come across the "individual" vs "system" level change debate. Here we introduce the *A-frame*. We argue that social change arises from individuals’ Agency within their many roles in societal systems, & that this agency should be leveraged. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Leveraging agency for climate change mitigation - Nature Climate Change

Climate debates often frame individual behaviour and systems change as distinct pathways to action. We suggest that social change arises from individuals’ agency within their roles in societal systems...

nature.com

1/ The sustainability transition doesn’t just advance from the top down and the bottom up – change also happens in the middle, and that’s where most of us can make a real difference Quick thread on a great new paper showing how *everyone* has an influential role to play 🧵

#AGW #mitigation Famous abstract: "No one is too small to make a difference." (Gift link to the paper in the 🧵)

Kristian Steensen Nielsen@kristiansn89.bsky.social · 2mo ago

🔥 Individual or system change?🔥 This debate has been at the center of much of my social media engagement for years (causing a fair bit of frustration). Yet I have never published research directly addressing it. Until now. 🧵 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This sounds like an interesting and important article about agency for climate change mitigation, which I look forward to reading.

Kristian Steensen Nielsen@kristiansn89.bsky.social · 2mo ago

🔥 Individual or system change?🔥 This debate has been at the center of much of my social media engagement for years (causing a fair bit of frustration). Yet I have never published research directly addressing it. Until now. 🧵 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The paper is excellent, thank you for providing access to it. "...treating these as mutually exclusive is conceptually and strategically flawed. Individuals act within systems, and systems are shaped and sustained by individual and collective behaviour." Exactly. bsky.app/profile/kris...

Kristian Steensen Nielsen@kristiansn89.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Here we go: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🌍 Feeling paralyzed about climate action? We just published an article in @theconversation.com that talks about how to find your biggest potential climate impact - which may well be greater than you think. 💪 Our framework walks you through the process step-by-step: (1/n)

“Rather than treating individual and system change as opposing pathways, we focus on how people can exercise agency through the social roles they occupy.” 👏

Kristian Steensen Nielsen@kristiansn89.bsky.social · 2mo ago

🔥 Individual or system change?🔥 This debate has been at the center of much of my social media engagement for years (causing a fair bit of frustration). Yet I have never published research directly addressing it. Until now. 🧵 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

It was always a false binary. Always glad to see it recognized as such.

Kristian Steensen Nielsen@kristiansn89.bsky.social · 2mo ago

🔥 Individual or system change?🔥 This debate has been at the center of much of my social media engagement for years (causing a fair bit of frustration). Yet I have never published research directly addressing it. Until now. 🧵 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🚨Fed up with the "individual vs. system change" debate?🚨 We've got you covered. 🙌 In our new paper in Nature Climate Change, we endeavour to move beyond that binary by introducing the agency frame (a-frame), a practical lens for identifying and intervening on high-impact climate behaviours. (1/n)

🧵

Kristian Steensen Nielsen@kristiansn89.bsky.social · 2mo ago

3/ Systems are enacted and reproduced through behavior, while also shaping the possibilities for action. Rather than treating individual and system change as opposing pathways, we focus on how people can exercise agency through the social roles they occupy.

Excellent work from @charlotte-kukowski.bsky.social including@kristiansn89.bsky.social@lwhitmarsh.bsky.social@profsanderlinden.bsky.social & others. I think they're on the money regarding how some people are better placed to shape society, but everyone has at least some agency to shape behaviour 1/n

Kristian Steensen Nielsen@kristiansn89.bsky.social · 2mo ago

🔥 Individual or system change?🔥 This debate has been at the center of much of my social media engagement for years (causing a fair bit of frustration). Yet I have never published research directly addressing it. Until now. 🧵 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Climate action debates often get stuck on the same question: is change about individual behavior or systems? This paper argues that is the wrong split. People act inside systems, but their actions also help maintain, reshape, or challenge those systems. 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

"People with higher socioeconomic status often have far greater opportunities to influence emissions… ...Nonetheless, most people probably have more personal climate agency than they recognize."

Kristian Steensen Nielsen@kristiansn89.bsky.social · 2mo ago

🔥 Individual or system change?🔥 This debate has been at the center of much of my social media engagement for years (causing a fair bit of frustration). Yet I have never published research directly addressing it. Until now. 🧵 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

It's not about invidual vs system change, bottom up or top down It's about how individuals, depending on their own capacities, context and available levers, can stimulate change in the world around them That's what will cascade up into system change

Kristian Steensen Nielsen@kristiansn89.bsky.social · 2mo ago

🔥 Individual or system change?🔥 This debate has been at the center of much of my social media engagement for years (causing a fair bit of frustration). Yet I have never published research directly addressing it. Until now. 🧵 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🔥 Individual or system change?🔥 This debate has been at the center of much of my social media engagement for years (causing a fair bit of frustration). Yet I have never published research directly addressing it. Until now. 🧵 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Pro-environmental behavior is often used as a broad ☂️ term under which different behaviors (e.g., mitigation, conservation, restoration), sustainability approaches (e.g., sufficiency, efficiency), types of behavior, domains (e.g., mobility, energy, food), and their antecedents are summarized.

⭐NEW PAPER ⭐ We collaborated with AWorld, the largest app for personal climate action, to examine behavioral patterns, data quality, and the links between users' actions, carbon footprints and psychological factors. iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1... @fdabl.bsky.social @cameronbrick.bsky.social

Working on climate change often comes with frustration over the lack of progress. But progress is happening, and it’s worth celebrating when it does. One piece of good news from my corner of the world: #Copenhagen has now fully electrified its bus fleet 🙌 🚌 ⚡ www.electrive.com/2026/03/31/c...

Copenhagen switches fully to electric buses - electrive.com

Copenhagen now operates a fully electric bus fleet after converting its final two routes, 19 and 5C, on 29 March. The move marks the completion of the city’s

electrive.com

🚨✈️ New paper on support for carbon taxation targeting air travel in Denmark 🇩🇰 We ran a discrete choice experiment with oversampling of top-income individuals to examine how policy design, information, and individual characteristics shape support. 🧵 (1/3) papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

🌍 New megastudy on what motivates people to engage in climate advocacy 🥳 We tested 17 theory-driven behavior change interventions to increase public, political, and financial #climate advocacy in the United States (N = 31,324). academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...

A megastudy of behavioral interventions to catalyze public, political, and financial climate advocacy

Abstract. Addressing climate change depends on large-scale system changes, which require public advocacy. Here, we identified and tested 17 expert-crowdsou

academic.oup.com

New study finds that emphasizing collective efficacy (people's ability to catalyze large-scale change) is very effective in catalyzing behavioural change. As you can see from my pinned post, I'm a big fan of simple messages that can mobilize public support for climate action!

A megastudy of behavioral interventions to catalyze public, political, and financial climate advocacy

Abstract. Addressing climate change depends on large-scale system changes, which require public advocacy. Here, we identified and tested 17 expert-crowdsou

academic.oup.com

Speaker Spotlight: Kristian Nielsen How do individual behavior change & broader systems change interact? How can behavioral science realize its full potential to address climate change? We're excited to have @kristiansn89.bsky.social help us tackle these questions! ⏳ Apply until Jan 26: acscc.nl

1/ Yes the globally wealthy have outsized emissions, and yes that’s a massive problem But it’s actually only a small part of their devastating influence on the conditions that support life 🧵

4/ In fact, as @kristiansn89.bsky.social, @kimberlynicholas.bsky.social & colleagues show, 'high-socioeconomic-status' people collectively work to prevent serious action on climate in a range of ways both conscious and unconscious www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Noam Chomsky has repeatedly called the U.S. Republican Party the most dangerous organization in the world. It gets harder and harder to disagree. www.bbc.com/news/av/worl...

Chomsky: 'Republican Party most dangerous'

Noam Chomsky argues the Republican Party is the most dangerous organisation in human history.

bbc.com