Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
Abstract Individuals’ happiness has been widely linked to prosocial behavior and environmental attitudes. However, concern for climate change does not always translate into consistent pro-environmental action, giving rise to self-greenwashing—a misalignment between expressed concern and action. This study examines the moderating roles of happiness in the relationship between climate change concerns and mitigation behavior. Using data from the European Social survey, we find that happiness is not significantly associated with the level of climate concern, yet it is positively related to mitigation behaviors and negatively associated with self-deception in sustainability. Our findings suggest that happiness may foster behavioral consistency rather than superficial environmental posturing, with implications for climate policy, public engagement strategies, and the psychological underpinnings of sustainable behavior.
Zhang et al. (2026) studied this question.