Addressing climate change poses a major challenge to the human mind: people must anticipate potentially devastating events for future generations despite only directly experiencing the “here and now” (Liberman & Trope, 2008). To overcome this psychological distance and, consequently, to reduce climate inaction, two directions can be taken: emphasizing people’s closeness to the currently observable impacts of climate change with visual cues (e.g., maps or timelines), or helping them to foresee its most serious future consequences, using, for example, virtual reality. Our research aims to assess the effectiveness of both methods in reducing the psychological distance to climate change increasing climate action. In a first study (N = 146), participants had to situate some climate events occurring close to home, in the near future (vs. far from home, in the distant future) in relation to their place of residence and the present time. Results indicate that emphasizing people’s closeness to climate change significantly reduced the perceived psychological distance, thereby indirectly increasing risk perception, emotion reactivity, and engagement in mitigation. In a second study (N = 186), participants watched a 360°-video depicting the significant rise in sea levels at the end of the century near their homes, presented on a virtual reality headset (vs. on a screen or with pictures from the video). Surprisingly, results show that virtually experiencing rising sea levels did not affect the perceived distance to climate change in comparison to other media. However, virtual reality significantly increased the feeling of presence in this distant context, and therefore, indirectly enhanced support and intention for mitigation. In light of these two studies, we will discuss the different processes underlying these strategies (reducing psychological distance or increasing spatial presence) and the recommendations for effectively communicating about both the current visible and far-reaching consequences of climate change, and promoting climate action.