Climate advocacy and activism by scientists: A narrative review

Samuel Finnerty, Maien Sachisthal, Viktoria Cologna, Fabian Dablander, Lydia Messling and Christel van Eck

PLOS Climate, 2026, vol. 5, issue 6, 1-18

Abstract: In the context of accelerating climate and environmental crises, advocacy and activism by scientists is becoming increasingly prominent. This growing visibility has intensified the debate surrounding the effectiveness of such engagement and its impact on scientific credibility, public trust, and professional norms. Yet, research on scientist climate advocacy is dispersed across disciplines, methodologies, and forms of advocacy, often yielding divergent findings. In this narrative review, we map, summarize, and synthesize the existing conceptual and empirical research on the motivations, constraints, and consequences of climate and environmental advocacy by scientists. Across this literature, we find that the effects of scientist climate advocacy are context dependent, shaped by the dynamic interplay between the advocate, the audience, the mode of advocacy, and the wider political and social context. We identify key factors that help explain when and why climate advocacy enhances or undermines credibility, trust, and influence. Finally, we discuss conceptual, methodological, and empirical gaps, and highlight priorities for future research on responsible and effective scientist engagement.

Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.plos.org/climate/article?id=10.1371/journal.pclm.0000942 (text/html)
https://journals.plos.org/climate/article/file?id= ... 00942&type=printable (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pclm00:0000942

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pclm.0000942

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in PLOS Climate from Public Library of Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by climate ().