The climate crisis is not only affecting territories, economies and ecosystems. It is also forcefully entering people’s most intimate sphere, that of mental well-being.
This is according to a new survey on ecoanxiety conducted by the European Institute of Psychotraumatology and Stress Management (IEP) on behalf of Greenpeace Italy and ReCommon, with the collaboration of the Universities’ Union (UDU) and the Students’ Network (RDS), and published in the Journal of Health and Environmental Research. The analysis captures a generation grappling not only with record temperatures and extreme events, but also with anxiety, anger and a widespread sense of distrust of the future.
The study, the first of this size in Italy, involved more than 3,600 young people aged 18 to 35, reached across schools, universities and online channels. For 44 per cent of respondents, climate change-related concern has a negative impact on daily life and psychological well-being. Thus, it is not an abstract discomfort, but something that accompanies choices, relationships and the way we imagine tomorrow.
When young people are asked what the words “climate change” evoke, the answer rarely has to do with responsibility or possibilities for action. Feelings of anxiety about the future prevail, followed by anger, frustration and, in many cases, helplessness. Only a very small percentage perceive themselves as active participants in change, a sign of a deep rift between awareness of the problem and confidence in their ability to deal with it.
The analysis shows that distress does not only affect those who have directly experienced floods, heat waves, or other extreme events. The succession of events related to the climate crisis can also fuel ecoanxiety and psychological distress. This is a relevant finding because it indicates that distress arises as much from direct experience as from the perception of an ongoing and seemingly uncontrollable global threat.
Some spatial differences emerge clearly. Young people living in the South and Islands are on average more concerned about the effects of climate change and, in several cases, show higher levels of emotional distress. Here, ecoanxiety is often intertwined with persistent feelings of dissatisfaction, repetitive thoughts and more pronounced states of anxiety.
One of the most interesting aspects of the study concerns the psychological mechanisms that amplify the impact of the climate crisis on mental health. The emotional burden is not only derived from fear per se, but is mediated by factors such as pessimism towards the future and, most importantly, the loss of meaning and purpose in life. In other words, climate change becomes an accelerator of a broader malaise that undermines confidence, the idea of progress and the possibility of planning for the long term.
The picture that emerges is one of a lucid, informed, but deeply disillusioned generation. Scientific awareness does not automatically translate into empowerment, but often into frustration, especially when policy and institutional responses appear slow or inadequate. And it is precisely here that the study sends a clear message: to ignore the psychological dimension of the climate crisis is to underestimate one of its most pervasive effects.
