2026/06/10 by Cæcilie Damgaard Ketil Hejl, Ane Qvortrup, Anna Dyrberg Stage · 1 voice
Environmental Science · Social Sciences · #Climate Change Communication and Perception #Environmental Education and Sustainability #Sustainability in Higher Education
paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/13504622.2026.2685816
openalex publication_date 2026/06/10 · openalex created_date 2026/06/12 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/12
The importance of enhancing young people’s environmental engagement is underscored in the UN IPCC reports, which emphasize that engagement influences political action. Within Education for Sustainable Development research, engagement is widely acknowledged not as a subordinate element of eco-literacy, but as a mutually constitutive process through which learners connect emotionally, cognitively, and practically with environmental concerns. However, the concept is shrouded in ambiguity, which makes it difficult to integrate as a focus in educational contexts. This scoping review examines how eco-engagement is conceptualized in prior research and identifies factors and contextual conditions reported to influence it. We searched two databases with strong relevance for educational research and found 47 eligible publications for analysis. Based on systematic coding and analysis, we find that the existing contributions conceptualize eco-engagement with reference to six categories of engagement dimensions. We term these categories pro-environmental behaviour, attitudes, emotions, morality and ethics, identity and connection, and political action and collectivity. Regarding factors and contextual conditions that influence eco-engagement we identify five distinct themes of factors affecting eco-engagement: hope, education, social and local environment, coping strategies, and political attitudes and values. Based on the review, we call for greater clarity in the conceptualizations of eco-engagement to ensure its analytical value.