Linking Values and Emotions to High-Impact Climate Action: A Cross-National Comparison in China and New Zealand

High-impact climate actions, such as sustainable transport and dietary choices, play a crucial role in mitigating the climate crisis, yet people’s perceptions of and responses to climate change may vary substantially across different social and cultural contexts. Drawing on the theory of basic human values, appraisal theory of emotion and warm-glow/cold-prickle frameworks, this study examined how biospheric and altruistic values, together with anticipated emotions (pride and guilt), shape intentions to engage in high-impact climate actions among young adults (aged 18–30) in New Zealand (n = 514) and China (n = 520). Multi-group path analyses were used to test the direct and indirect effects of values on climate-friendly transportation and dietary intentions via anticipated emotions. Results showed that biospheric values and anticipated emotions were significant predictors of both types of climate action intentions. After controlling for biospheric values, altruistic values no longer predicted transportation intentions in either country and predicted dietary intentions only in China, where the effect was small. Anticipated emotions mediated the effects of biospheric values on both behavioural intentions. Cross-national comparisons revealed that biospheric values were a weaker predictor of climate action intentions in China than in New Zealand, and their associations with two anticipated emotions were stronger in the latter. Anticipated guilt exerted a stronger effect on sustainable transport intentions in China, whereas the effects of anticipated pride did not differ significantly across countries. These findings advance understanding of the value–emotion–behaviour pathways regarding the cross-national validity and highlight the need for culturally sensitive climate communication strategies that integrate both individual values and emotional engagement.