Climate change & coaching psychologists: Exploring attitudes, perspectives and future intentions

Introduction: Climate change is increasingly recognised as a critical globalchallenge, significantly affecting ecological stability and human wellbeing.Coaching psychology, as a discipline supporting behavioural and attitudinalchange, has potential relevance in addressing climate-related issues. However,the role and attitudes of coaching psychologists towards climate change remainrelatively unexplored. This research aims to explore coaching psychologists’attitudes, perspectives and intentions to address climate change issues, withspecific reference to members of coaching psychology professional bodies acrossthe UK, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.

Method: This study employed an online exploratory survey consisting of 12multiple-choice and open-ended questions to explore the views of coachingpsychologists, predominantly members of the British Psychological Society’sDivision of Coaching Psychology. The survey was conducted online and ethicalapproval was obtained from Henley Business School. This method was mostappropriate for this exploratory survey for obtaining responses from allmembers of professional bodies of coaching psychology in the UK, South Africa,New Zealand and Australia. The questions addressed definitions of climatechange, perceived roles and responsibilities of coaching psychologists, andexpectations from professional bodies. A total of 45 coaching psychologistscompleted the survey.

Results: Participants responses were analysed using a simpledescriptive statistical analysis. This type of analysis is the most appropriateto an online survey.  Participants broadlyacknowledged climate change as a legitimate coaching concern, (38%) althoughattitudes varied from strong advocacy for proactive engagement to cautiousneutrality. Coaches highlighted the emotional, behavioural, and systemiccomplexities associated with climate change, indicating a preference forprofessional bodies to provide clear ethical guidance, targeted training, andresources to support client conversations about climate-related issues.

Discussion: The findings illustrate coaching psychologists’ emergingrecognition of their potential role in climate action, reflecting broaderliterature emphasizing psychology’s critical contributions to addressingclimate change.

Conclusion: Coaching psychologists display growing interest and variedreadiness to engage professionally with climate change, highlightingopportunities and challenges for professional practice development. Thefindings of this research provide preliminary insights on the role coachingpsychologists can play to address climate change issues. Further research isneeded and we advocate from strong cross professional body collaborations onthis issue to develop practical actions which coaches can take to address theclimate change emergency/crisis.

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