Social psychological pathways to climate action: Reframing education for SDG 13

Climate change poses an existential challenge whose resolution depends not only on technological ingenuity but also on the transformation of human psychology. Despite decades of awareness and policy commitments, behavioral inertia continues to undermine global mitigation efforts. This paper proposes an integrative theoretical framework that explains how education can mobilize climate action by leveraging core constructs from social psychology. Drawing on recent empirical work (2019–2025), it argues that climate behavior is governed by the interplay of five processes: social identity formation, normative influence, collective efficacy, temporal discounting, and risk perception. These processes constitute the Integrative Socio-Psychological Model of Climate Engagement (ISPMCE), a conceptual structure that illuminates how education can shift cognition, motivation, and group dynamics toward sustainability. The model demonstrates that effective climate education must go beyond information delivery to cultivate shared identity, normative alignment, and perceived agency. It also highlights the necessity of reducing psychological distance to counteract temporal discounting and amplify risk salience. The paper concludes that embedding this framework within curricula and communication strategies can accelerate behavioral transitions essential for achieving Sustainable Development Goal 13 (SDG 13).