How News Media, Climate Anxiety, and Trust Shape Pro-Climate Behaviour Across Eight Countries

Despite the importance of climate news in shaping public engagement, little is known about how different types of media – mainstream and non-mainstream – relate to pro-climate behaviour, and what psychological processes condition these effects, particularly in cross-national contexts. This study addresses that gap by examining the emotional and evaluative mechanisms linking climate news use to pro-climate behavioural intentions (e.g., using less energy at home, flying less often, and repairing rather than replacing), and how these relationships vary across countries. Drawing on online survey data from 8,541 respondents across eight countries – Brazil, France, Germany, India, Japan, Pakistan, the United Kingdom, and the United States – we test a multi-group structural equation model with climate anxiety as a mediator and media trust as a moderator. Results show that mainstream news use is consistently associated with stronger behavioural intent across all countries. Non-mainstream media use has positive but more context-dependent effects, especially in settings where digital platforms dominate climate information. Climate anxiety emerges as a robust and universal predictor of behavioural intention, though it is not consistently shaped by media use – indicating that emotional responses may stem from sources beyond the news. Media trust amplifies the direct effects of mainstream news use but does not moderate the indirect pathway via anxiety. Overall, the findings reveal a surprising degree of cross-national consistency in how news use, media trust, and emotional responses shape climate engagement.