Higher education students’ environmental citizenship: a comparative study between Croatia, Cyprus, France, Italy, Lebanon, Spain and Sweden

Abstract Environmental challenges continue to intensify globally, highlighting the urgent need to foster Environmental Citizenship (ECn) among younger generations, particularly within higher education. Despite increasing policy emphasis on sustainability education, limited cross-national evidence exists on how students translate environmental awareness into action. This study employs a quantitative, comparative design using survey data from 2,013 higher education students across seven countries (Croatia, Cyprus, France, Italy, Lebanon, Spain, and Sweden). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to validate a reduced Environmental Citizenship Questionnaire (rECQ) and examine students’ motivations, competences, intentions, and behaviors. Results reveal a consistent pattern across countries: while students demonstrate high levels of environmental values (M = 3.54) and attitudes (M = 3.49), as well as strong intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (M ≈ 4.7), their engagement in past environmental actions remains notably low (M = 1.77). Competences and intentions are significantly higher than actual behaviors ( p