The DOI matches its Crossref record; 134 of the 135 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Toward a Taxonomy of Climate Emotions
Open accessAbstract
There is a growing evidence that emotions shape people's reactions to the climate crisis in profound but complex ways. Climate emotions are related to resilience, climate action, and psychological well-being and health. However, there is currently a lack of research about the array of various climate emotions. There is also a need for more integration with general research about emotions. This article conducts a preliminary exploration of the taxonomy of climate emotions, based on literature reviews and philosophical discussion. The term emotion is used here in a broad sense, as is common in climate emotion research. Because of the urgency of the climate crisis and the lack of previous research, this kind of exploration is aimed to be helpful for both practical climate work and for future research which would include more systematic reviews of the topic. Research items which discuss at least five different climate emotions, based on empirical observations, are used as major sources and a table about them is provided. Climate emotions are discussed on the basis of interdisciplinary research. The article considers many aspects of the phenomena of climate anxiety and climate grief.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“Feelings of belonging, togetherness and connection not only support capacity for nature-connection but may also provide a basis for caring about climate-related matters (Stoknes, 2015; Pihkala, 2022), providing systems-informed opportunities for connecting wellbeing with major societal challenges such as the climate emergency.”
From The Complex Construct of Wellbeing and the Role of Vagal Function (2022) · cites this paper as Pihkala, 2022
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
Literature review as a research methodology: An overview and guidelines
Snyder, H. (2019) · Journal of Business Research · doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.07.039 · Cited by 11,524
Offenkrantz, W. C. (1981) · American Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1176/ajp.138.7.1002 · Cited by 2,926
Hickman, C., Marks, E., Pihkala, P., Clayton, S., Lewandowski, R. E., Mayall, E. E., Wray, B., Mellor, C., & van Susteren, L. (2021) · The Lancet Planetary Health · doi:10.1016/s2542-5196(21)00278-3 · Cited by 2,324 · cited 10×
“A few existing, broad surveys of climate emotions are used as references to the existence of many of these climate emotions (especially Hyry, 2019; Hickman et al., 2021), but it was not possible in this research to evaluate the prevalence or statistics related to these emotions.”
BackgroundInfluentialClimate anxiety: Psychological responses to climate change
Clayton, S. (2020) · Journal of Anxiety Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2020.102263 · Cited by 1,409 · cited 2×
“The concept and phenomenon of climate anxiety is closely related to this (Clayton, 2020; Pihkala, 2020a).”
BackgroundEcological grief as a mental health response to climate change-related loss
Cunsolo, A., & Ellis, N. R. (2018) · Nature Climate Change · doi:10.1038/s41558-018-0092-2 · Cited by 1,408
Solastalgia: The Distress Caused by Environmental Change
Albrecht, G., Sartore, G.-M., Connor, L., Higginbotham, N., Freeman, S., Kelly, B., Stain, H., Tonna, A., & Pollard, G. (2007) · Australasian Psychiatry · doi:10.1080/10398560701701288 · Cited by 1,369
Development and validation of a measure of climate change anxiety
Clayton, S., & Karazsia, B. T. (2020) · Journal of Environmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2020.101434 · Cited by 1,196
Living in Denial: Climate Change, Emotions, and Everyday Life
Norgaard, K. M. (2011) · doi:10.7551/mitpress/9780262015448.001.0001 · Cited by 1,131
Horwitz, A. V., & Wakefield, J. C. (2007) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780195313048.001.0001 · Cited by 1,019
Anxiety and the Ecological Crisis: An Analysis of Eco-Anxiety and Climate Anxiety
Pihkala, P. (2020) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su12197836 · Cited by 978
Self-citation
Flagged first, then by citations
1 of the 135 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Research works printed but not linked: 21
- Barrett, 2016, Handjournal of Emotions, 4th Edn
- Bladow, “Toward an affective ecocriticism: placing feeling in the anthropocene,”, 1
- CoppolaI.. Eco-anxiety in the climate generation: is action an antidote? (Bachelor's Thesis). Environmental Program, University of Vermont2021
- Eagleton, 2015, Hope Without Optimism
- Frijda, 1986, The Emotions. Studies in Emotion and Social Interaction
- Glendinning, My Name Is Chellis and I'm in Recovery From Western Civilization
- Goldie, 2010, The Oxford Handjournal of Philosophy of Emotion
- “Concepts of mental states,”258275 GoldmanA. I.. 10.1093/0195138929.003.0010OxfordOxford University PressSimulating Minds: The Philosophy, Psychology, and Neuroscience of Mindreading, Chapter 10, Philosophy of Mind Series2006 · DOI
- Gregg, 2010, The Affect Theory Reader
- Lewis, “The emergence of human emotions,”, 272
- Lewis, “Self-conscious emotions: embarrassment, pride, shame, guilt, and hubris,”, 792
- Lifton, 2017, The Climate Swerve: Reflections on Mind, Hope, and Survival
- Lindquist, 2016, “Language and emotion: putting words into feelings and feelings into words,”, 579
- Lomas, 2016, The Positive Power of Negative Emotions: How Harnessing Your Darker Feelings Can Help You See a Brighter Dawn
- Macy, 2014, Coming Back to Life: The Updated Guide to the Work That Reconnects
- Newby, 2021, Beyond Climate Grief: A Journey of Love, Snow, Fire, and an Enchanted Beer Can
- Orange, 2017, Climate Change, Psychoanalysis, and Radical Ethics
- Pipher, 2013, The Green Boat: Reviving Ourselves in Our Capsized Culture
- Salamon, 2020, Facing the Climate Emergency: How to Transform Yourself With Climate Truth
- Scarantino, 2016, “Philosophy of emotions,”, 3
- “Emotion,” in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2018 edition) ScarantinoA. de SousaR. 2018
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Lawrance, E. L., Thompson, R., Newberry Le Vay, J., Page, L., & Jennings, N. (2022) · International Review of Psychiatry · doi:10.1080/09540261.2022.2128725 · Cited by 500
“Importantly, although many emotional and psychological responses to the climate crisis appear to be globally-relevant, responses are also likely to be culturally dependent (340).”
BackgroundInfluentialEco-anxiety: What it is and why it matters
Kurth, C., & Pihkala, P. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.981814 · Cited by 321
“There is emerging scholarship about ecological aspects of these emotions (see Jensen, 2019; Fredericks, 2021; Pihkala, 2022), and that scholarship would benefit from integration with a philosophical and emotion research approach.”
BackgroundÁgoston, C., Csaba, B., Nagy, B., Kőváry, Z., Dúll, A., Rácz, J., & Demetrovics, Z. (2022) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph19042461 · Cited by 242
The Process of Eco-Anxiety and Ecological Grief: A Narrative Review and a New Proposal
Pihkala, P. (2022) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su142416628 · Cited by 256
Ágoston, C., Urbán, R., Nagy, B. J., Csaba, B., Kőváry, Z., Kovacs, K., Varga, A., Dúll, A., Mónus, F., Shaw, C. A., et al. (2022) · Climate Risk Management · doi:10.1016/j.crm.2022.100441 · Cited by 189
Climate emotions and anxiety among young people in Canada: A national survey and call to action
Galway, L. P., & Field, E. (2023) · The Journal of Climate Change and Health · doi:10.1016/j.joclim.2023.100204 · Cited by 158
Marczak, M., Wierzba, M., Zaremba, D., Kulesza, M., Szczypiński, J., Kossowski, B., Budziszewska, M., Michałowski, J. M., Klöckner, C. A., & Marchewka, A. (2023) · Global Environmental Change · doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2023.102764 · Cited by 142
Eco-emotions and Psychoterratic Syndromes: Reshaping Mental Health Assessment Under Climate Change
Cianconi, P., Hanife, B., Grillo, F., Betrò, S., Lesmana, C. B. J., & Janiri, L. (2023) · The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine · doi:10.59249/earx2427 · Cited by 134
The strength and content of climate anger
Gregersen, T., Andersen, G., & Tvinnereim, E. M. (2023) · Global Environmental Change · doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2023.102738 · Cited by 97
Age differences and profiles in pro-environmental behavior and eco-emotions
Ágoston, C., Balázs, B., Mónus, F., & Varga, A. (2024) · International Journal of Behavioral Development · doi:10.1177/01650254231222436 · Cited by 125
“There is a growing literature on climate change–related emotions (Ogunbode et al., 2023; Pihkala, 2022), especially climate change anxiety (Ágoston, Csaba, et al., 2022; Ágoston, Urbán, et al., 2022; Clayton, 2020; Pihkala, 2020), which is a nonspecific worry or fear of environmental doom (Pihkala,…”
BackgroundEcological Sorrow: Types of Grief and Loss in Ecological Grief
Pihkala, P. (2024) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su16020849 · Cited by 110
“…feature mentions continuing despair and dread, originally added to the list by Jones and Beck via a study of death row inmates and their close ones [126], and these kinds of difficult feelings have often been discussed by ecological grief and anxiety scholars (e.g., [128], for a review, see [32]).”
BackgroundMental health and psychosocial interventions in the context of climate change: a scoping review
Xue, S., Massazza, A., Akhter‐Khan, S. C., Wray, B., Husain, M. I., & Lawrance, E. (2024) · npj Mental Health Research · doi:10.1038/s44184-024-00054-1 · Cited by 107
“Understandings of mental health and wellbeing, and the experiences of climate change vary across geographies and cultures, and it is important to not perpetuate colonial practices by imposing Western de fi nitions and understandings universally 67,68 .”
BackgroundLewandowski, R. E., Clayton, S., Olbrich, L., Sakshaug, J. W., Wray, B., Schwartz, S. E. O., Augustinavicius, J., Howe, P. D., Parnes, M. F., Wright, S., et al. (2024) · The Lancet Planetary Health · doi:10.1016/s2542-5196(24)00229-8 · Cited by 104
Contreras, A., Blanchard, M. A., Mouguiama-Daouda, C., & Heeren, A. (2023) · Journal of Anxiety Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2023.102822 · Cited by 87
A meta-analysis on the relationship between climate anxiety and wellbeing
Gago, T., Sargisson, R. J., & Milfont, T. L. (2024) · Journal of Environmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2024.102230 · Cited by 87
Diffey, J., Wright, S., Uchendu, J. O., Masithi, S., Olude, A., Juma, D. O., Anya, L. H., Salami, T., Mogathala, P. R., Agarwal, H., et al. (2022) · International Review of Psychiatry · doi:10.1080/09540261.2022.2126297 · Cited by 94
“This choice was made as a group due to the frequency with which the word ‘emotional’ is used to invalidate a person’s experiences (see the discussion in Pihkala, 2022).”
BackgroundClimate change anxiety: A meta-analysis
Kühner, C., Gemmecke, C., Hüffmeier, J., & Zacher, H. (2025) · Global Environmental Change · doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2025.103015 · Cited by 81
Acting as we feel: Which emotional responses to the climate crisis motivate climate action
Kovács, L. N., Jordan, G., Berglund, F., Holden, B., Niehoff, E., Pohl, F., Younssi, M., Zevallos, I., Ágoston, C., Varga, A., et al. (2024) · Journal of Environmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2024.102327 · Cited by 76
Eco-anxiety and climate-anxiety linked to indirect exposure: A scoping review of empirical research
Jarrett, J. A., Gauthier, S., Baden, D. A., Ainsworth, B., & Dorey, L. (2024) · Journal of Environmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2024.102326 · Cited by 55
“These psychological responses to climate change are expressed through a range of climate emotions (Pihkala, 2022b), which are manifested as practical (Clayton, 2020; Pihkala, 2020) or potentially pathological forms (Clayton & Karazsia, 2020) of ‘eco-anxiety ’ and ‘climate anxiety ’ .”
Climate Distress: A Review of Current Psychological Research and Practice
Koder, J., Dunk, J., & Rhodes, P. (2023) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su15108115 · Cited by 43
Böhm, G., Pfister, H., Doran, R., Ogunbode, C. A., Poortinga, W., Tvinnereim, E. M., Steentjes, K., Mays, C., Bertoldo, R. B., Sonnberger, M., et al. (2023) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1139133 · Cited by 40
“The Pihkala (2022) taxonomy of climate emotions is based on a comprehensive review of the literature and consists of the broad categories of surprise, shock, fear, sadness, strong depression, guilt, feeling betrayed, anger, hostility, envy, motivation, pleasure, hope, belonging, and compassion,…”
BackgroundInfluentialVoşki, A., Wong‐Parodi, G., & Ardoin, N. M. (2023) · Global Environmental Psychology · doi:10.5964/gep.11465 · Cited by 44
“…GEC-associated emotions describes a preliminary taxonomy of ‘climate emotions,’ overwhelmingly negative, with the 11 umbrella categories of surprise, threat, sadness, strong anxiety, strong depression, guilt/shame, anger, indignation, disgust, hostility, and positive emotions (Pihkala, 2022).”
BackgroundInfluentialReciprocal Relations Between Climate Change Anxiety and Pro-Environmental Behavior
Kühner, C., Rudolph, C. W., & Zacher, H. (2024) · Environment and Behavior · doi:10.1177/00139165241297050 · Cited by 50
“Climate change anxiety (also called “eco-anxiety” or “climate anxiety,” see Pihkala, 2020) is arguably the most studied emotional response associated with climate change (Pihkala, 2022).”
InfluentialEco-Anxiety and Pastoral Care: Theoretical Considerations and Practical Suggestions
Pihkala, P. (2022) · Religions · doi:10.3390/rel13030192 · Cited by 51
“The author has written elsewhere of the need for religious leaders to work critically with eco-guilt, eco-anger, and ecological grief and sadness in spiritual care, rituals, and wider action (Pihkala 2022b).”
BackgroundVarutti, M. (2023) · AMBIO · doi:10.1007/s13280-023-01962-w · Cited by 54
“…2021, p. 38); solastalgia, the distress produced by environmental change impacting on people directly connected to their home environment (Albrecht et al. 2007, p. 95); environmental guilt, other-oriented feelings of shame with doing some-thing wrong for the environment (Pihkala 2022; Jensen 2019).”
BackgroundHenritze, E., Goldman, S., Simon, S., & Brown, A. D. (2023) · The Lancet Planetary Health · doi:10.1016/s2542-5196(22)00335-7 · Cited by 41
Ballew, M. T., Uppalapati, S. S., Myers, T. A., Carman, J., Campbell, E., Rosenthal, S. A., Kotcher, J., Leiserowitz, A., & Maibach, E. W. (2024) · npj Climate Action · doi:10.1038/s44168-024-00172-8 · Cited by 49
“Scholars use various terms to describe the emotions, moods, and mental states associated with climate change 10 – 12 .”
Emotions of the Anthropocene across Oceania
Clissold, R., McNamara, K. E., & Westoby, R. (2022) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph19116757 · Cited by 42
“Feelings of ambivalence, powerlessness and helplessness have also been common features of eco-anxiety [18,41].”
BackgroundInfluentialFinnegan, W. (2022) · Children s Geographies · doi:10.1080/14733285.2022.2153329 · Cited by 37
“An exercise during the workshop involved participants choosing three words that related to how they felt about the future, which were related to the taxonomy of climate emotions described by Pihkala (2022).”
BackgroundLindhe, N., Bengtsson, A., Byggeth, E., Engström, J., Lundin, M., Ludvigsson, M., Aminoff, V., Berg, M., & Andersson, G. (2023) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2023.104438 · Cited by 45
“This has been highlighted by several researchers, who call for more research on whether there are concepts other than “ climate anxiety ” that should be paid more attention, such as for example “ climate depression ” (Budziszewska & Ka ł wak, 2022; Pihkala, 2022).”
Complex dynamics of climate emotions among environmentally active Finnish and American young people
Coppola, I., & Pihkala, P. (2023) · Frontiers in Political Science · doi:10.3389/fpos.2022.1063741 · Cited by 42
“, Cunsolo and Ellis, 2018) to anger and frustration (e.g., Antadze, 2020; Pihkala, 2022c), to joy and hope (e.”
BackgroundMethodÁgoston, C., Buvár, Á., Dúll, A., Szabó, Z. Á., & Varga, A. (2024) · Journal of Cleaner Production · doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.143037 · Cited by 53
Wullenkord, M. C., Johansson, M. V., Loy, L. S., Menzel, C., & Reese, G. (2024) · Journal of Environmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2024.102278 · Cited by 44
Benham, C. F., & Hoerst, D. (2023) · Journal of Environmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2023.102184 · Cited by 49
Towards a unified conceptual framework of eco-anxiety: mapping eco-anxiety through a scoping review
Boivin, M., Gousse-Lessard, A.-S., & Legris, N. H. (2025) · Cogent Mental Health · doi:10.1080/28324765.2025.2490524 · Cited by 37
“…Hayes et al., 2018; Hickman et al., 2021; Jalin et al., 2022; Köse, 2023; Léger-Goodes et al., 2023; Marshall et al., 2019; Mento et al., 2023; Pihkala, 2020a, 2020b, 2022a; Temte et al., 2019; Thomas et al., 2022; Usher, 2022; Vergunst et al., 2023; Verlie et al., 2021; Warsini et al.,…”
InfluentialPsychological impacts of climate change on US youth
Vercammen, A., Wray, B., Crider, Y. S., Belkin, G. S., & Lawrance, E. (2025) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2311400122 · Cited by 46
“While a taxonomy of climate emotions has been proposed ( 30 ), there is no true consensus on which emotions are most relevant.”
Exploring Climate Emotions in Canada’s Provincial North
Galway, L. P., & Beery, T. H. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.920313 · Cited by 34
Marczak, M., Wierzba, M., Kossowski, B., Marchewka, A., Morote, R., & Klöckner, C. A. (2024) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1211272 · Cited by 38
“…emotional experience of climate change is comprised of a wide panorama of emotions that differentially affect people’s mental wellbeing and pro-climate behavior (e.g., Kleres and Wettergren, 2017; Wang et al., 2018; Caillaud et al., 2019; Stanley et al., 2021; Pihkala, 2022; Marczak et al., 2023b).”
BackgroundStanley, S. K., Heffernan, T., Macleod, E., Lane, J., Walker, I. A., Evans, O., Greenwood, L., Kurz, T., Calear, A. L., Reynolds, J., et al. (2024) · Journal of Environmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2024.102273 · Cited by 31
Zaremba, D., Kulesza, M., Herman, A. M., Marczak, M., Kossowski, B., Budziszewska, M., Michałowski, J. M., Klöckner, C. A., Marchewka, A., & Wierzba, M. (2022) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-022-03807-3 · Cited by 40
The hope wheel: a model to enable hope-based pedagogy in Climate Change Education
Finnegan, W., & d’Abreu, C. (2024) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1347392 · Cited by 38
“Educators increasingly acknowledge the importance of engaging with climate change across a broad range of subject areas and its current relevance from both a pupil and planetary perspective (Edge Research, 2022; Teach the Future, 2022).”
BackgroundA social psychology of climate change: Progress and promise
Clayton, S. (2024) · British Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1111/bjso.12749 · Cited by 36
Reese, G., Rueff, M., & Wullenkord, M. C. (2023) · Frontiers in Climate · doi:10.3389/fclim.2023.1158451 · Cited by 28
Climate Anxiety, Maturational Loss, and Adversarial Growth
Pihkala, P. (2024) · The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child · doi:10.1080/00797308.2023.2287382 · Cited by 32
“I am drawing in this article from many years of focused study of the topic area (e.g. Pihkala 2017, 2018, 2020a, 2020c, 2020d, 2022a, 2022b) but the reader should acknowledge that more research is needed on the nuances of the topics covered here.”
BackgroundInfluentialDo climate concerns and worries predict energy preferences? A meta-analysis
Lorteau, S., Muzzerall, P., Deneault, A., Kennedy, E. H., Rocque, R., Racine, N. M., & Bureau, J. (2024) · Energy Policy · doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2024.114149 · Cited by 25
Anger in response to climate breakdown
Bergman, H. M. (2023) · Zeitschrift für Ethik und Moralphilosophie · doi:10.1007/s42048-023-00149-y · Cited by 25
Jylhä, K. M., Ojala, M., Odisho, S., & Riise, A. (2023) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1178449 · Cited by 24
“Emotions of different kinds have also been found to be related to pro-environmental behavior (see Brosch, 2021; Brosch and Steg, 2021; Wong-Parodi and Feygina, 2021; Pihkala, 2022; Ojala, 2023).”
BackgroundEmotions and the Climate Crisis: A Research Agenda for an Affective Sustainability Science
Brosch, T., & Sauter, D. A. (2023) · Emotion Review · doi:10.1177/17540739231193741 · Cited by 24
“For instance, there is currently no validated taxonomy of climate emotions and different forms of climate distress (but see Pihkala, 2022 for fi rst steps in this direction).”
BackgroundClayton, S., Sangalang, A., & Anderson, R. (2023) · Environmental Education Research · doi:10.1080/13504622.2023.2286934 · Cited by 32
“After consenting to participate in a study about their experiences with climate change, teachers were asked to identify whether or not they experienced 28 different emotional responses related to climate change (adapted from Hickman et al. 2021; expanded with reference to Pihkala 2022).”
Zeier, P., & Wessa, M. (2024) · Discover Sustainability · doi:10.1007/s43621-024-00209-2 · Cited by 28
Verlie, B. (2024) · Environment and Planning E Nature and Space · doi:10.1177/25148486241252734 · Cited by 27
“These diverse affective harms, encompassed here under the umbrella term ‘ climate distress, ’ can include a wide range of emotional experiences such as worry through to post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and chronic anxiety (Cianconi et al., 2020; Hayes et al., 2018; Pihkala, 2022b).”
Rethinking ecoanxiety through environmental moral distress: an ethics reflection
Banwell, N., & Eggert, N. (2023) · The Journal of Climate Change and Health · doi:10.1016/j.joclim.2023.100283 · Cited by 26
Eco-emotional Responses to Climate Change: A Scoping Review of Social Work Literature
McCaffery, J., & Boetto, H. (2024) · The British Journal of Social Work · doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcae129 · Cited by 27
Stanley, S. K., Leviston, Z., Hogg, T. L., & Walker, I. A. (2024) · Journal of Environmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2024.102490 · Cited by 31
The Complex Construct of Wellbeing and the Role of Vagal Function
Wilkie, L., Fisher, Z., & Kemp, A. H. (2022) · Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnint.2022.925664 · Cited by 18
“…and connection not only support capacity for nature-connection but may also provide a basis for caring about climate-related matters (Stoknes, 2015; Pihkala, 2022), providing systems-informed opportunities for connecting wellbeing with major societal challenges such as the climate emergency.”
BackgroundGebhardt, N., Schwaab, L., Friederich, H.-C., & Nikendei, C. (2023) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1274523 · Cited by 20
Niedzwiedz, C. L., Olsen, J. R., Rizeq, J., Afework, T., Hill-Harding, C. K. V., Shaw, R. J., Thomas, R., Kariuki, S. M., Katikireddi, S. V., Weaver, A. J., et al. (2024) · Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health · doi:10.1136/jech-2024-222716 · Cited by 24
“48 54–56 These can relate to wider ‘ecological’ or ‘Earth’ emotions concerning environmental crises, such as biodiversity loss and species extinction.”
A systematic review of climate emotions and mental health in adults
Pitt, C., Norris, K., & Pecl, G. (2023) · Global Environmental Psychology · doi:10.5964/gep.11405 · Cited by 20
“…current systematic review uses the term climate emotions as a general term for the many kinds of affective phenomena related to the climate crisis (Pihkala, 2022) listed above, and searched research databases using a wide range of these different labels in an effort to find all relevant…”
BackgroundEmbodying Theology: Trauma Theory, Climate Change, Pastoral and Practical Theology
McCarroll, P. R. (2022) · Religions · doi:10.3390/rel13040294 · Cited by 23
Emotions related to climate change, and their impact on environmental behaviour
Skeirytė, A., & Liobikienė, G. (2025) · Journal of Cleaner Production · doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2025.144659 · Cited by 20
Ecological Grief, Religious Coping, and Spiritual Crises: Exploring Eco-Spiritual Grief
Pihkala, P. (2024) · Pastoral Psychology · doi:10.1007/s11089-024-01158-3 · Cited by 31
“A background subject of study is how processes of ecological grief and anxiety (Pihkala, 2022b) resonate with religion/spirituality and what kind of impacts they can have for religion/spirituality.”
InfluentialKulcar, V., Siller, H. U., & Juen, B. H. (2022) · The Journal of Climate Change and Health · doi:10.1016/j.joclim.2022.100125 · Cited by 17
“Recent efforts in creating taxonomies of climate change emotions [30] will further enhance research.”
Gamification for Climate Change Engagement: A User-Centered Design Agenda
Galeote, D. F., Rajanen, M., Rajanen, D., Legaki, N.-Z., Langley, D., & Hamari, J. (2023) · International Academic Mindtrek Conference (Mindtrek) · doi:10.1145/3616961.3616968 · Cited by 19
“People’srelationshipwithclimatechange is underpinned by a wide range of emotions [55], and gam-ified engagement with climate change is not an exception [16].”
BackgroundLarionow, P., Gawrych, M., Mackiewicz, J., Michalak, M., Mudło‐Głagolska, K., Preece, D. A., & Stewart, A. E. (2024) · Healthcare · doi:10.3390/healthcare12111128 · Cited by 18
“Climate change and people’s perceptions of this phenomenon are associated with a wide range of psychological responses, including various phenomena termed climate anxiety [1], climate emotions [2], and climate change worry (CCW) [3,4].”
BackgroundClimate Change Cognition, Affect, and Behavior in Youth: A Scoping Review
Tapia‐Echanove, M., Bloch‐Atefi, A., Hanson‐Easey, S., Oswald, T. K., & Eliott, J. (2025) · Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Climate Change · doi:10.1002/wcc.70000 · Cited by 19
“Other umbrella terms such as “cli-mate emotions” or “eco-emotions” describe a wider array of responses, such as sadness, dread, anger, rage, joy, pride, and love (Pihkala 2022).”
InfluentialZeier, P., Lange, F., Rowland, Z., Wessa, M., & Wenzel, M. (2025) · Journal of Environmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2025.102575 · Cited by 15
The utility of the emBODY tool as a novel method of studying complex phenomena-related emotions
Herman, A. M., Zaremba, D., Kossowski, B., & Marchewka, A. (2022) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-022-23734-4 · Cited by 14
The Environment as an Object Relationship: A Two-Part Study
Bodnar, S., Aljovin, P., O'Neill, P., Alavi, S., Gamoran, J., Liaqat, A., Bitensky, D., Bi, H., Grella, E., Kiefer, M., et al. (2022) · Ecopsychology · doi:10.1089/eco.2022.0070 · Cited by 16
“Pihkala (2022) also explored using naturally occurring words and narratives to better understand human thought and emotion in relationship to the environment.”
Croasdale, K., Grailey, K., Jennings, N. R., Mole, J. A., & Lawrance, E. (2023) · The Journal of Climate Change and Health · doi:10.1016/j.joclim.2023.100253 · Cited by 16
Asbrand, J., Spirkl, N., Reese, G., Spangenberg, L., Shibata, N., & Dippel, N. (2024) · Anxiety Stress & Coping · doi:10.1080/10615806.2024.2388255 · Cited by 22
“Future studies should also explore a wider array of climate emotions (e.g., Pihkala, 2022b) and use specific instruments to address climate anxiety (e.g., Clayton & Karazsia, 2020).”
Dennis, M. K., & Stock, P. V. (2023) · Journal of Gerontological Social Work · doi:10.1080/01634372.2023.2259942 · Cited by 16
“Only recently have scholars begun to holistically try to understand the intersection of climate change, anxiety, emotions, and potential grief (Ojala et al., 2021; Pihkala, 2022; Soutar & Wand, 2022; Taylor, 2020).”
BackgroundEcological grief as a crisis in dwelling
Velasco, P. F. (2024) · European Journal of Philosophy · doi:10.1111/ejop.12962 · Cited by 15
Cipriani, E., Gemignani, A., & Menicucci, D. (2024) · Heliyon · doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e38461 · Cited by 20
“Awareness of climate emotions [20] is relevant both for clinical purposes – such as in the case of climate anxiety [21] – and in the promotion of sustainable behaviors [22].”
BackgroundEco-Anxiety and Mental Health: Correlates of Climate Change Distress
Mosca, A., Luciani, D., Chiappini, S., Miuli, A., Cianconi, P., Pettorruso, M., Janiri, L., & Martinotti, G. (2025) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph22121768 · Cited by 20
“This is consistent with literature showing that self-rated health is a strong predictor of mental health outcomes and that perceived vulnerability to climate change exacerbates anxiety and depressive symptoms [20,43,51].”
Jukes, S., Fox, R., Hills, D., White, P., Ferguson, J. P., Kamath, A., Logan, M. R., Riley, K., Rousell, D., Wooltorton, S., et al. (2024) · Australian Journal of Environmental Education · doi:10.1017/aee.2024.65 · Cited by 13
“In 2022, the region experienced destructive floods where flood waters reached heights that were higher than ever recorded (Lismore City Council, 2022) which was devastating for local communities.”
InfluentialKhalil, M. I. M., Shaala, R. S., Mousa, E. F. S., Zoromba, M. A., & Atta, M. H. R. (2024) · Geriatric Nursing · doi:10.1016/j.gerinurse.2024.11.013 · Cited by 16
An Information-Theoretic Approach to Modeling the Major Drivers of Pro-Environmental Behavior
Walton, T. N., & Jones, R. E. (2022) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su142214668 · Cited by 16
Development and validation of the Emotional Climate Change Stories (ECCS) stimuli set
Zaremba, D., Michałowski, J. M., Klöckner, C. A., Marchewka, A., & Wierzba, M. (2024) · Behavior Research Methods · doi:10.3758/s13428-024-02408-1 · Cited by 11
“First, we investigated the distribution of valence and arousal ratings, which are commonly used to characterise emotional stimuli (e.g. Lang & Bradley, 2007; Lehman et al., 2019; Magalhães et al., 2018; Marchewka et al., 2014; Wier-zba et al., 2015, 2022).”
BackgroundLearning collective care to support young climate justice advocates
Wrigley, K., Beardman, G., Farrant, J. Y., Godden, N. J., Hill, C. F., Heyink, E., Collins, E. C., Davies, H., & Robinson, S. (2024) · Environmental Education Research · doi:10.1080/13504622.2024.2359457 · Cited by 12
“People, young and old, experience a mixture of climate emotions, including worry, anger, stress, and motivation to create change (Pihkala 2022).”
Areia, N. P., Sequeira, M. D., & Tavares, A. O. (2024) · International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction · doi:10.1016/j.ijdrr.2024.104643 · Cited by 13
Engaging with Climate Grief, Guilt, and Anger in Religious Communities
Pihkala, P. (2024) · Religions · doi:10.3390/rel15091052 · Cited by 13
Workplace eco-anxiety: a scoping review of what we know and how to mitigate the consequences
Ayassamy, P., Francoeur, V., & Paillé, P. (2024) · Frontiers in Sustainability · doi:10.3389/frsus.2024.1371737 · Cited by 12
“This result runs counter to other systematic reviews on eco-anxiety, which have found that studies are predominantly quantitative (Pikhala, 2022).”
Compassion is key: How virtually embodying nature increases connectedness to nature
Spangenberger, P., Krüger, J. M., Geiger, S. M., Reuth, G. F., Baumann, L., & Nebel, S. (2025) · Journal of Environmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2025.102521 · Cited by 13
Buswell, G., Williams, M. O., Marks, E. M., & Morgan, G. (2025) · Cogent Mental Health · doi:10.1080/28324765.2025.2449878 · Cited by 15
“…climate-related distress in the research literature includes “eco-anxiety” (e.g. Usher et al., 2019), “eco-angst” (Goleman, 2009), “ecological grief” (Cunsolo & Ellis, 2018), “environmental distress” (Higginbotham et al., 2006) and “solastalgia” (Albrecht, 2005; Coffey et al., 2021; Pihkala, 2022).”
Sosyal Hizmet Öğrencilerinin İklim Değişikliği Farkındalıklarının ve Kaygı Düzeylerinin Belirlenmesi
Ceylan, H., Sevgili, A., & Aslan, Ş. (2024) · Üniversite Araştırmaları Dergisi · doi:10.32329/uad.1442686 · Cited by 11
Coping with climate anxiety: impacts on functioning in Australian adolescents
Crandon, T., Scott, J. G., Charlson, F., & Thomas, H. J. (2024) · Australian Psychologist · doi:10.1080/00050067.2024.2404987 · Cited by 14
“Climate anxiety can be experienced simultaneously alongside emotions like hope, anger, empowerment and sadness (Pihkala, 2022).”
Calabria, L., & Marks, E. M. (2024) · The Cognitive Behaviour Therapist · doi:10.1017/s1754470x24000096 · Cited by 12
“Fear and anxiety about a threatening and uncertain future (Pihkala, 2020) are common, but so too are other emotions (Pihkala, 2022a) including grief (about actual and anticipated losses) (Gibson et al ., 2020), anger, and a sense of injustice at the failings of powerful people and older generations…”
Psychische Konsequenzen der Klimakrise
Peter, F., Dohm, L., & Krimmer, M. (2022) · Monatsschrift Kinderheilkunde · doi:10.1007/s00112-022-01670-x · Cited by 11
A meta-analysis on the relationship between climate anxiety and wellbeingPreprint
Gago, T., Sargisson, R. J., & Milfont, T. L. (2023) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/eaq4k · Cited by 11
Calabria, L., & Marks, E. M. (2024) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1351428 · Cited by 12
“This is in line with reports of ecological distress in other populations, where emotions of different valences are present within individuals (or indeed the same individual) concerned about climate change (Hickman et al., 2021; Pihkala, 2022).”
ResultHow Western Buddhist climate activists negotiate climate emotions
Cairns, J., & Pihkala, P. (2024) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1487258 · Cited by 13
Beyond “Hope”: Constructive Anger as a Force in Sustained Climate Action
Grau, M. (2025) · Pastoral Psychology · doi:10.1007/s11089-024-01196-x · Cited by 10
“The Finnish theologian Panu Pihkala (2022) has defined climate emotions as “affective phenomena which are significantly related to the climate crisis” (p. 1).”
Spontaneous hope, anger and climate activism
Whyman, T. (2025) · Environmental Values · doi:10.1177/09632719251317888 · Cited by 10
“Pihkala, for instance, cites the Finnish national climate feelings survey (Hyry 2019), in which 44% of participants recognized climate frustration, 31% climate anger, 28% climate irritation, and 16% climate rage (Pihkala, 2022: 15).”
InfluentialExpanding sustainability learning in engineering education through emotional scaffolding
Holmén, J., & Lönngren, J. (2025) · European Journal of Engineering Education · doi:10.1080/03043797.2025.2474046 · Cited by 15
“In the sustainability education literature, much focus has been on (d) topic emotions, especially hope, worry, and anxiety related to climate change (Ojala 2023; Ojala et al. 2021; Pihkala 2022).”
An Introduction to the Complex Construct of Wellbeing, Societal Challenges and Potential Solutions
Kemp, A. H., & Edwards, D. J. (2022) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-18329-4_1 · Cited by 10
Turning to Nature to Process the Emotional Toll of Nature’s Destruction
Westoby, R., Clissold, R., & McNamara, K. E. (2022) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su14137948 · Cited by 16
Collective Shame in Climate Denial: An Ecopsychological Undertaking
Yeager, B. A. (2023) · Ecopsychology · doi:10.1089/eco.2023.0002 · Cited by 9
“…whatever the scope of that may be, but nonetheless an identified-with group, be it a family, community, collective, culture, or species, or other U.S.-Americans as emblematic of the Anthropocene and who have disproportionately contributed to the climate crisis (Jensen, 2019; Pihkala, 2022).”
McCarroll, P. R. (2023) · Journal of Pastoral Theology · doi:10.1080/10649867.2023.2204277 · Cited by 9
Fulfilling the Regenerative Potential of Higher Education: A Collaborative Auto-Ethnography
Wessels, K. R., & Grünwald, L. (2023) · Education Sciences · doi:10.3390/educsci13101037 · Cited by 9
A ‘greenhouse affect’? Exploring young Australians’ emotional responses to climate change
Russell, T. (2024) · Climatic Change · doi:10.1007/s10584-024-03737-y · Cited by 13
“Taken together with recent efforts to advance conceptual frameworks of climate emo - tions (e.g., Pihkala 2022 ; Voşki et al. 2023 ), these findings suggest we are witnessing an unfolding phenomenon - a state of affective quandary occasioned by the climate crisis.”
Metadata
- Authors
- Pihkala, P.
- Affiliations
- University of Helsinki (FI)
- Corresponding author
- Pihkala, Panu
- ORCID
- Pihkala, Panu
- Venue
- Frontiers in Climate
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2022-01-14
- Volume
- 3
- ISSN
- 2624-9553 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4206670862
- Cited by
- 471
- References
- 135
- Citations by year
- 2026: 121 · 2025: 137 · 2024: 127 · 2023: 55 · 2022: 31
- FWCI
- 125.91
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Frontiers in Climate (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Työväentutkimus Vuosikirja (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Helsingin Yliopisto
- Suomen Kulttuurirahasto
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Climate Change Communication and Perception
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Environmental Philosophy and Ethics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Emotions and Moral Behavior
- Keywords
- climate emotions, climate anxiety, climate grief, climate crisis, psychological well-being, resilience, climate action
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review