Field interventions for climate change mitigation behaviors: A second-order meta-analysis

Area of Science:

• Environmental Psychology
• Behavioral Science
• Climate Change Mitigation

Background:

• Behavioral change is crucial for addressing climate change.
• Existing research on interventions promoting mitigation behaviors needs synthesis.
• Field-based interventions are key to understanding real-world impact.

Approach:

• Conducted a preregistered second-order meta-analysis of 10 meta-analyses, encompassing 430 primary studies.
• Assessed overall intervention effectiveness and performed subgroup analyses on intervention types, behaviors, and publication bias.
• Analyzed unique primary studies and large-scale interventions for conservative effect estimates.

Key Points:

• Climate change mitigation interventions demonstrated general effectiveness (d = 0.31).
• Publication bias adjustment yielded a more conservative estimate (d = 0.18), translating to a 7% effect.
• Large-scale interventions showed a smaller effect (approx. 2%), potentially due to indirect techniques and non-voluntary participants.

Conclusions:

• Interventions utilizing social comparisons or financial incentives were most effective.
• Education and feedback interventions showed the least effectiveness.
• Findings offer a comprehensive overview to guide future climate change mitigation research and practice.