The climate museum is an interactive virtual learning environment based on the En-ROADS climate solutions simulator and enhanced with dynamic 3D visualizations of a landscape depicting, amongst other elements, a coastal city and a forest. The environment further simulates the temporal evolution of the landscape over the next decades. We explored how such visualizations of climate simulations affect individuals’ willingness to act on climate change.

Participants explored the climate museum on a multi-touch table, engaged with climate policy simulations, received real-time feedback, and indicated their willingness to act on climate change. They were presented with the 2D dashboard of the En-ROADS climate solutions simulator or with the additional immersive 3D simulations.

We found that participants’ willingness to act on climate change increased significantly during the simulation, accompanied by a high usage frequency of the simulator’s sliders. However, contrary to our hypothesis, we found no interaction effect of presentation type on willingness to act. Participants exposed to the 3D simulations did not report higher willingness to act compared to those using the 2D dashboard.

These findings suggest that interacting with the simulation per se might be more impactful for enhancing willingness to act than being exposed to immersive technology. We, thus, propose to explore further interactive features, such as agency, to gain further insights into how citizens explore the complexity of climate change.