Low-carbon consumption in extreme heat in Eastern China: climate change anxiety as a facilitator or inhibitor?

Abstract

With the planet warming, extreme heat events are becoming increasingly frequent and hazardous. At the same time, reducing carbon emissions from consumer activities is crucial for addressing global warming. This study aims to explore how extreme heat affects low-carbon consumption behaviors, leading to a more comprehensive understanding of the relationship between climate change and human behavior. Guided by resource scarcity theory and the general strain theory. The laboratory experiment used the recall paradigm to induce extreme heat experiences (Study 1, n = 198), and we found that extreme heat impacts low-carbon consumption through climate change anxiety: cognitive climate change anxiety tends to increase low-carbon behaviors, while affective climate change anxiety inhibits low-carbon behaviors. The field experiments conducted on actual extreme heat days and using simulated purchasing decision-making methods (Study 2, n= 203) further confirmed the laboratory findings. An inverted U-shaped relationship between climate change anxiety and low-carbon consumption was also revealed. In summary, the current study reveals the differential impact of cognitive and affective climate anxiety on low-carbon consumer behavior. This finding provides new insights for understanding the complex psychological mechanisms of extreme climate events on consumer behavior, which could also serve as an operational basis for intervention design and policy making.