Mitigating climate change through the adoption of cleaner technologies and reducing energy-
intensive activities requires not only attitudinal and behavioral shifts from individuals but also
their support for critical policy reforms. This paper addresses the broader question: How
does the presentation of climate change-related information influence individuals' policy
preferences? Prior studies show that virtual reality (VR) experiences on climate change
increase awareness of its impacts, and that correcting climate change misinformation in
VR—as opposed to social media—leads to lower skepticism, greater confidence in its
existence, and stronger beliefs in human causation. However, it remains unclear whether
these interventions also align individuals' policy preferences with improvements in their
beliefs and attitudes. Our research examines the effectiveness of immersive VR experiences
depicting climate change scenarios, as well as VR-based misinformation correction, in
promoting support for climate-friendly policies. We focus on policies such as raising fossil
fuel taxes, subsidizing renewable energy (e.g., wind and solar), and regulating energy-
inefficient consumer technologies. Through either VR simulations or a social media simulator
feed, participants are exposed to potential future impacts, like farmland degradation from
rising temperatures and sea-level rise affecting communities and ecosystems. Using a pre-
test, post-test mixed experimental design that span over a month, we compare the influence
of VR versus a social media simulator on climate-friendly policy support. Additionally, we
assess how VR impacts climate anxiety and the perceived psychological distance of climate
change, and how these factors in turn influence policy support. We expect VR interventions
to be more effective in fostering policy support by increasing climate anxiety and reducing
psychological distance. Furthermore, we investigate whether VR’s ability to lower skepticism
and increase certainty about climate change correlates with support for climate-friendly
policies. We argue that the study has both theoretical and practical significance for effective
political communication on climate change, offering insights that can help drive policy
change from the grassroots level.
