Gender and ideological orientation moderate the influence of climate misinformation on pro-environmental behavioural intentions.

Climate change is a significant and urgent challenge faced by humanity, yet the widespread dissemination of misinformation hampers progress in combating it. While previous research shows that false information about the scientific consensus on climate change can shape beliefs and attitudes, its effect on behavioural intentions remains less understood. To examine this, two experiments in Spain (n = 673) and Ecuador (n = 365) tested the impact of denialist versus confirmatory or neutral messages about the scientific consensus on anthropogenic climate change on the intention to take pro-environmental actions. Moreover, we explored the moderating roles of gender and ideological orientation, which are key factors in climate scepticism. In both countries, right-wing men who received consensus-denying messages showed fewer intentions to perform pro-environmental behaviours compared to those who received consensus-confirming messages. Consensus misinformation did not appear to have a consistent impact on women across ideological lines or on left-wing men. These findings highlight the urgent need to develop communication interventions targeted at specific demographic subgroups to counteract climate misinformation and promote pro-environmental actions.