The climate emergency and the biodiversity crisis put our planet at risk of irreversible damage. To mitigate and adapt to these threats, immediate and ongoing action is needed to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and shift to environmentally sustainable practices to reduce land and water pollution and protect ecosystems. This must involve pro-environmental changes to the behaviour of individuals, households, organisations, communities and societies. The changes needed encompass our systems of governance, energy use, food production, sanitation, transport, construction and infrastructure, manufacturing, consumption and waste.

The potential for virtual and augmented reality applications to promote pro-environmental behaviour has been recognised for over twenty years. The ability to create immersive and altered environments, including simulations of nature; to tap into sensory and social influences on behaviour; and to visualise complex concepts and data all provide a basis for powerful interventions. In the field of behaviour change, the efficacy of VR/AR interventions has been demonstrated across a wide range of target behaviours.

This research topic aims to assemble and stimulate research that explores the application of extended reality (VR/AR/MR) to changing people’s behaviour – or precursors of behaviour, such as attitudes and intentions – in ways that contribute to reduced emissions, restoration of biodiversity, and environmentally sustainable societies, development of environmentally sustainable products and services, through manipulating (all) the senses.

Relevant topics may include but are not limited to:
• Determinants of pro-environmental behaviour
• Behaviour change interventions
• Behavioural spillover effects
• Technical optimisation of VR/AR for environmental applications, e.g. simulating nature
• Serious games, education and training
• Data and scenario visualisation
• Role of social interaction with virtual humans

Impact

Frontiers in Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality and Human Behaviour

Participating Journals

Frontiers in Psychology

Environmental Psychology