Liberals and conservatives show consistent differences in attitudes toward proenvironmental behavior (or PEB); this research seeks to understand why. We investigated the role of political ideology in predicting self-reported PEB and assessed whether this association was mediated by environmental motivation. Survey respondents (N = 310) reported on their political ideology, type of motivation, and frequency of various PEBs. Results of structural equation modeling demonstrated that liberalism was positively associated with PEB and that this relationship was explained by autonomous motivation toward the environment. Conversely, liberalism was unrelated to external motivation and negatively related to amotivation, both of which were negatively associated with PEB. This research offers a deeper understanding of the mechanisms through which political ideology relates to PEB—that is, through the internalization of the motivation to perform these behaviors. To our knowledge, this study is the first to simultaneously examine the direct and indirect relationship between political ideology and proenvironmental efforts and explicitly connect liberalism to autonomous motivation. We highlight important avenues for environmental communication and policy. Key Words: Proenvironmental behavior—Political ideology—Motivation—Autonomy—Liberalism.
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