Bystander effect
The tendency for each person to be less likely to help when others who could also act are present.
Example
Neighbours may each notice a blocked drain before a storm and assume someone else has reported it.
The catch
Classic studies concern emergencies between strangers, so stretching the finding to global climate action needs care.
In more depth
Bystander effect, explained.
The bystander effect weakens when responsibility is made specific. Psychology's classic remedy in an emergency is to point at one person and give them one task, because a named individual cannot assume someone else will step in. Two mechanisms sit underneath it. Diffusion of responsibility spreads the duty thin, and pluralistic ignorance leads each person to read the calm of others as a sign that nothing is wrong.
The lesson about naming owners transfers more safely than the original finding. An office that names who switches off the servers at weekends, or a residents' group that names who will chase the council about the flood-prone culvert, removes the doubt about whose job it is. Appeals addressed to everyone, by contrast, give each listener room to wait.