The psychological distance of climate change is overestimated

It is widely assumed that psychological distance (PD) is a major barrier to climate action: many people are not motivated to act because they perceive climate change as affecting only remote locations in the far future. Reducing PD is considered an effective strategy to increase climate action. Yet, the idea of PD as a barrier to climate action has also been criticized. It currently remains unclear to what extent PD hinders climate action. In this review, based on a systematic examination of the literature, we show that there is little evidence to support the prominence of PD. Opinion polls show that most people actually perceive climate change as occurring now and close by. Seeing climate change as more distant does not necessarily result in less climate action, and reducing PD does not reliably increase climate action. Policymakers may develop ineffective climate action campaigns because of incorrect assumptions about PD. Our review highlights the importance of prioritizing evidence over intuition in policymaking to promote climate action.