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Kristian Steensen Nielsen

@kristiansn89.bsky.social
4.3K followers 1.6K following 384 posts

Assistant Professor @ Copenhagen Business School Behavior change | climate change mitigation | environmental psychology | biodiversity conservation

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Kristian Steensen Nielsen @kristiansn89.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
✈️🌍 Who supports taxing air travel, and who doesn't? I talk a lot about the need to address air travel. So I'm very excited that our new paper on public support for carbon taxation of air travel in Denmark 🇩🇰 Read on for the key results👇🧵 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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Paquito Bernard @paquitobernard.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Interesting thread! It should also highlight the major methodological weaknesses (Env Psy): measures of behavior (stop to use PEB scales), reproducibility, iterative intervention development (n-of-1, ITW...), WEIRD samples, research effort on low impact behaviors (ex.recycling >> meat reduction)
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Kei Long Cheung @keilongcheung.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
An important point. Small effects may reflect what was tested, not the limits of behaviour change interventions. We also need to examine whether the selected methods were appropriate, their conditions for effectiveness were preserved and the intervention was implemented as intended.
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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Good thread on essentially being realistic about the strength of behaviour change arising from interventions that are themselves small changes. The analogy with the $1/ton carbon tax is a good one. Though also worrying as am in middle of designing an intervention. Hopefully not marginal.
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Neal Hockley @nealhockley.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Good thread. But worth noting that one reason this field got so much attention was the idea that 'one little trick' (nudges) could have outsize impacts - very attractive to cash-strapped decision makers. It's healthy if we are settling into a more realistic view of behaviour change interventions.
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Adam K. Dubé @edtechprof.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Could behavioral change interventions be more effective if they were more ambitious? Maybe. But, Kraft (2020) studied 747 educational interventions and found avg d = .16 Studies with n > 2000, d = .05. These are targeted, designed, effortful interventions. Change/learning is hard. That’s ok
doi.org
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
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Kristian Steensen Nielsen @kristiansn89.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
🎯 What should we expect from behavior change interventions? Growing evidence suggests that most behavior change interventions have small effects on behavior. I regularly hear fellow behavioral scientists understandably feeling discouraged by this. But should we be discouraged? Not necessarily.🧵
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Dr Charlie Gardner @charliejgardner.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
This year has been brutal, and like most people you probably want to do more about climate change. But what, and how? Great news – I’ve written just the book for you! It’s called What One Person Can Do and it’s a clear and simple how-to guide, a roadmap to help you make influential changes...
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Dr Steve Westlake @steveclimate.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Yes you're right. ✅Our research shows that leading by example on climate change increases trust, credibility and popularity of leaders. ✅It also increases other's willingness to change ⛔Unnecessary high-carbon behaviour undermines all those things.
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Dr Steve Westlake @steveclimate.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
There's some great academic writing on the role of leaders in tackling climate change. Here are few, first from @kristiansn89.bsky.social @kimberlynicholas.bsky.social and colleagues... www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
The role of high-socioeconomic-status people in locking in or rapidly reducing energy-driven greenhouse gas emissions - Nature Energy
High-socioeconomic-status individuals have a disproportionate effect on greenhouse gas emissions as consumers and through four other key roles they play in society. This Perspective examines the effec...
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
🧵CO₂ removal (CDR) is back in the news, but just because the UNEP report says we need CDR, it doesn't mean we'll have CDR. Many challenges will take decades of research and negotiation to solve. Here are some examples: Technological: We currently don't have any durable CDR method that scales.
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Richard Waite @waiterich.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Agree with this thread. Ultimately it is system change that matters, but human systems are made up of individuals, and so individual actions—especially in countries and among populations with high per capita emissions—do matter. Signed, An individual posting at other individuals
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Kristian Steensen Nielsen @kristiansn89.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
🌍 A defense of the personal carbon footprint 🌱 I often hear people, including in the climate community, dismiss the concept of a personal carbon footprint. I believe this is a mistake. Here are three reasons why👇🧵
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Kimberly Nicholas @kimberlynicholas.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Did you know your bank might be funding fossil fuels? 🏦 I recently spoke to Matt, who didn't, until a friend mentioned it. In #ClimateActually, we cover how to check (bank.green), and how to make the switch to a fossil-free bank easy. Subscribe and watch: www.youtube.com/watch?v=irux...
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Kristian Steensen Nielsen @kristiansn89.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
⭐ Some reflections on behavioral science and climate policy ⭐ For a few years, I've reflected critically on the purpose of my research and how we can improve behavioral research on climate change to achieve real societal change. 🧵
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Annie Mitchell 💙💚🌈 @annieingarden.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Individual & systemic change are 2 sides of same coin. “…We suggest that social change arises from individuals’ agency within their roles in societal systems, and that this agency should be actively leveraged to achieve meaningful climate change mitigation.” www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Leveraging agency for climate change mitigation - Nature Climate Change
Climate debates often frame individual behaviour and systems change as distinct pathways to action. We suggest that social change arises from individuals’ agency within their roles in societal systems...
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Søren Have @sorenhave.dk · 09/07/2026
As I mentioned recently, this graphics by @steveclimate.bsky.social is a great illustration to the article:
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Jack McGovan @jackmcgovan.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
The ongoing heatwave in Europe shows us that we need climate action now more than ever. The good news is that each of us has the agency to do something in our lives. I spoke with @charlotte-kukowski.bsky.social about a new climate action framework she and her colleagues have developed.
sower.world
How to use your agency for impactful climate action
Although modern life makes many of us feel powerless, we all have agency to act and stop the climate crisis.
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Olav Elgvin @olavelgvin.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
It is obviously true that systemic change is what matters. The big question is whether individual or social change can help bring that about. I think there are good arguments for that :) interesting article: bsky.app/profile/kris...
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Sander van der Linden @profsanderlinden.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
In my work, I often come across the "individual" vs "system" level change debate. Here we introduce the *A-frame*. We argue that social change arises from individuals’ Agency within their many roles in societal systems, & that this agency should be leveraged. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Leveraging agency for climate change mitigation - Nature Climate Change
Climate debates often frame individual behaviour and systems change as distinct pathways to action. We suggest that social change arises from individuals’ agency within their roles in societal systems...
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Dr Charlie Gardner @charliejgardner.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
1/ The sustainability transition doesn’t just advance from the top down and the bottom up – change also happens in the middle, and that’s where most of us can make a real difference Quick thread on a great new paper showing how *everyone* has an influential role to play 🧵
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Oca sapiens @ocasapiens.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
#AGW #mitigation Famous abstract: "No one is too small to make a difference." (Gift link to the paper in the 🧵)
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Helene Dyrhauge @hdyrhauge.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
This sounds like an interesting and important article about agency for climate change mitigation, which I look forward to reading.
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Xoiiku @xoiiku.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
The paper is excellent, thank you for providing access to it. "...treating these as mutually exclusive is conceptually and strategically flawed. Individuals act within systems, and systems are shaped and sustained by individual and collective behaviour." Exactly. bsky.app/profile/kris...
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Charlotte A. Kukowski @charlotte-kukowski.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
🌍 Feeling paralyzed about climate action? We just published an article in @theconversation.com that talks about how to find your biggest potential climate impact - which may well be greater than you think. 💪 Our framework walks you through the process step-by-step: (1/n)
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ve, the ghost of info past @vortexegg.com · 27/05/2026
This feels like it could potentially be a useful framework for thinking about system change for other types of things besides climate change
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Meade Krosby @meadekrosby.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
“Rather than treating individual and system change as opposing pathways, we focus on how people can exercise agency through the social roles they occupy.” 👏
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smeedha @smeedha.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
It was always a false binary. Always glad to see it recognized as such.
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Charlotte A. Kukowski @charlotte-kukowski.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
🚨Fed up with the "individual vs. system change" debate?🚨 We've got you covered. 🙌 In our new paper in Nature Climate Change, we endeavour to move beyond that binary by introducing the agency frame (a-frame), a practical lens for identifying and intervening on high-impact climate behaviours. (1/n)
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Dr. Genevieve Guenther (she/they) @doctorvive.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
🧵
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Dr Samuel Finnerty @samuelfinnerty.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Excellent work from @charlotte-kukowski.bsky.social including@kristiansn89.bsky.social@lwhitmarsh.bsky.social@profsanderlinden.bsky.social & others. I think they're on the money regarding how some people are better placed to shape society, but everyone has at least some agency to shape behaviour 1/n
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Annie Leymarie @annieleymarie.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
"People with higher socioeconomic status often have far greater opportunities to influence emissions… ...Nonetheless, most people probably have more personal climate agency than they recognize."
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Dr Charlie Gardner @charliejgardner.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
It's not about invidual vs system change, bottom up or top down It's about how individuals, depending on their own capacities, context and available levers, can stimulate change in the world around them That's what will cascade up into system change
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Kristian Steensen Nielsen @kristiansn89.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
🔥 Individual or system change?🔥 This debate has been at the center of much of my social media engagement for years (causing a fair bit of frustration). Yet I have never published research directly addressing it. Until now. 🧵 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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markuskl.bsky.social @markuskl.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Pro-environmental behavior is often used as a broad ☂️ term under which different behaviors (e.g., mitigation, conservation, restoration), sustainability approaches (e.g., sufficiency, efficiency), types of behavior, domains (e.g., mobility, energy, food), and their antecedents are summarized.
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Kristian Steensen Nielsen @kristiansn89.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
⭐NEW PAPER ⭐ We collaborated with AWorld, the largest app for personal climate action, to examine behavioral patterns, data quality, and the links between users' actions, carbon footprints and psychological factors. iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1... @fdabl.bsky.social @cameronbrick.bsky.social
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Kristian Steensen Nielsen @kristiansn89.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Working on climate change often comes with frustration over the lack of progress. But progress is happening, and it’s worth celebrating when it does. One piece of good news from my corner of the world: #Copenhagen has now fully electrified its bus fleet 🙌 🚌 ⚡ www.electrive.com/2026/03/31/c...
electrive.com
Copenhagen switches fully to electric buses - electrive.com
Copenhagen now operates a fully electric bus fleet after converting its final two routes, 19 and 5C, on 29 March. The move marks the completion of the city’s
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Kristian Steensen Nielsen @kristiansn89.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
🚨✈️ New paper on support for carbon taxation targeting air travel in Denmark 🇩🇰 We ran a discrete choice experiment with oversampling of top-income individuals to examine how policy design, information, and individual characteristics shape support. 🧵 (1/3) papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
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Kristian Steensen Nielsen @kristiansn89.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
🌍 New megastudy on what motivates people to engage in climate advocacy 🥳 We tested 17 theory-driven behavior change interventions to increase public, political, and financial #climate advocacy in the United States (N = 31,324). academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
academic.oup.com
A megastudy of behavioral interventions to catalyze public, political, and financial climate advocacy
Abstract. Addressing climate change depends on large-scale system changes, which require public advocacy. Here, we identified and tested 17 expert-crowdsou
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Katharine Hayhoe @katharinehayhoe.com · 27/01/2026
New study finds that emphasizing collective efficacy (people's ability to catalyze large-scale change) is very effective in catalyzing behavioural change. As you can see from my pinned post, I'm a big fan of simple messages that can mobilize public support for climate action!
academic.oup.com
A megastudy of behavioral interventions to catalyze public, political, and financial climate advocacy
Abstract. Addressing climate change depends on large-scale system changes, which require public advocacy. Here, we identified and tested 17 expert-crowdsou
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Amsterdam Complexity School on Climate Change @acscc.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Speaker Spotlight: Kristian Nielsen How do individual behavior change & broader systems change interact? How can behavioral science realize its full potential to address climate change? We're excited to have @kristiansn89.bsky.social help us tackle these questions! ⏳ Apply until Jan 26: acscc.nl
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Dr Charlie Gardner @charliejgardner.bsky.social · 10/01/2026
1/ Yes the globally wealthy have outsized emissions, and yes that’s a massive problem But it’s actually only a small part of their devastating influence on the conditions that support life 🧵
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Dr Charlie Gardner @charliejgardner.bsky.social · 10/01/2026
4/ In fact, as @kristiansn89.bsky.social, @kimberlynicholas.bsky.social & colleagues show, 'high-socioeconomic-status' people collectively work to prevent serious action on climate in a range of ways both conscious and unconscious www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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Kristian Steensen Nielsen @kristiansn89.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
Noam Chomsky has repeatedly called the U.S. Republican Party the most dangerous organization in the world. It gets harder and harder to disagree. www.bbc.com/news/av/worl...
bbc.com
Chomsky: 'Republican Party most dangerous'
Noam Chomsky argues the Republican Party is the most dangerous organisation in human history.
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Kristian Steensen Nielsen @kristiansn89.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
🔥How can behavioral science contribute more to tackling climate change? This question has been on my mind for years, and I have often written rather critically about the state of behavioral science research (including my own). Here I will share six recommendations🧵 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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Annie Leymarie @annieleymarie.bsky.social · 30/12/2025
Adds evidence about the false (in my opinion) dichotomy between support for individual actions and for systems change
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Kristian Steensen Nielsen @kristiansn89.bsky.social · 28/12/2025
What better way to end 2025 than getting our paper published in Global Environmental Change 🥳💚 We studied perceptions of the feasibility of climate-relevant behavior change and how these perceptions connect to income differences and climate policy support. Let me tell you all about it🧵👇
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Frederik Hoedeman @fredhoedeman.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
Being serious about planetary boundaries means transforming towards less and slower mobility. This contradicts the current paradigms, making it difficult to gain legitimacy for such policies. Slow mobility also means more active and healthy mobility. High time to link health psychology and mobility.
tandfonline.com
Health psychology and climate change: time to address humanity’s most existential crisis
Climate change is an ongoing and escalating health emergency. It threatens the health and wellbeing of billions of people, through extreme weather events, displacement, food insecurity, pathogenic ...
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Kristian Steensen Nielsen @kristiansn89.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
Vi har i Klima- og Omstillingsrådet en kronik i @altingetdk.bsky.social om, hvorfor Danmark bør arbejde langt mere aktivt med vores forbrugsbaserede klimaaftryk 🇩🇰 Her adresserer vi også den ensporede kritik, som klimaministeren fremfører. @jenslund.bsky.social www.altinget.dk/klima/artike...
altinget.dk
Klima- og Omstillingsrådet: Vi skal bruge mål for forbrugsbaserede udledninger til at skubbe til vores levevis - Altinget
Reel grøn omstilling kræver betydelige forandringer af mange danskeres forbrug. Men der er uenighed om, hvorvidt Danmark bør indføre mål for forbrugsbaserede udledninger. Uenighed i debatten kan være ...
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