Humans are inclined to act only when we believe our actions matter.

Cognitive and ecological systems are becoming increasingly entangled.

Agency is our capacity to participate consciously in shaping systems that simultaneously shape us.

When it comes to climate action, knowledge matters. Communication and attitudes matter. Yet, de facto, humans are only likely to translate these ingredients into climate-friendly intentions when they believe their own actions can make a difference. Self-efficacy amplifies engagement, and to a certain extent it conditions it. Knowledge does not lead naturally to behavior change. Instead, a more complex pathway, in which knowledge feeds engagement, shapes attitudes, and influences intentions, operates.

There is a larger lesson here. Agency is becoming a defining capability of 21st-century citizenship. In a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence (AI), climate disruption, and the intensifying interaction between the two, the scarcest resource today is not information. We are surrounded by more information than any previous generation could have ever imagined.

What is becoming scarce is human agency: our capacity to understand what is happening, determine what matters, garner the initiative to make meaningful choices, and act upon them.

What is becoming scarce is human agency: our capacity to understand what is happening, determine what matters, garner the initiative to make meaningful choices, and act upon them.

From informed people to empowered citizens

For much of modern history, citizenship has been associated with rights, responsibilities, and participation in public life. The digital era added another requirement: access to information. The hybrid era demands something deeper.

We increasingly experience reality through technological systems that select, summarize, recommend, predict, and generate. Search engines mediate what we discover. Algorithms determine much of what reaches our attention. Generative AI can formulate arguments, answer questions, and increasingly undertake tasks on our behalf. These capabilities can expand agency enormously. Someone with a smartphone can access knowledge, translate languages, analyze information, and mobilize communities with capacities once reserved for institutions. At the........

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