…And justice for all: justice sensitivity outweighs empathy in pro-environmental behavior

Extensive psychological research has documented that becoming aware of injustice, coupled with a negative evaluation of it, motivates actions aimed at addressing the injustice. Perceiving environmental harm as unjust-because it disproportionately affects those least responsible-may therefore motivate pro-environmental behavior (PEB). This study investigates whether empathy contributes to this process via perspective taking and empathic concern. We investigated the interrelationships of justice sensitivity (JS) dimensions (victim, observer, beneficiary, and perpetrator sensitivity) with three facets of empathy (cognitive empathy, affective empathy, and compassion) and PEB. A preregistered study (N = 327) showed that other-oriented forms of JS were positively associated with PEB, while empathy facets showed no significant relationships. No interaction effect was found. These findings suggest that making justice concerns more salient may increase PEB. Future research should further investigate the psychological mechanisms through which JS supports PEB and how it can be activated in communication and intervention strategies. The role of affective responses in this process is examined.