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Climate change represents a major global challenge. Responding to climate change, interventions have been implemented to encourage sustainable behavior. Such interventions may not only promote the target behavior but also increase (positive spillover) or reduce (negative spillover) non-targeted sustainable intentions and behaviors. This pre-registered meta-analysis integrated the experimental research on environmental spillover. Database searches in several languages supplemented by searches to retrieve unpublished literature yielded 61 aggregated effect sizes from 37 studies and 28 articles (N = 26,749 unique participants). The three-level Bayesian meta-analysis provided moderate support for a small positive spillover on intentions, δ = 0.14, 95% CrI [-0.02, 0.29], and strong support for no spillover on behaviors, δ = 0. Moderator analyses showed that positive spillover on intentions and behaviors combined was more likely when interventions thwarted rather than preserved individual choice, and when they addressed normative rather than personal gain goals. Spillover on intentions and behaviors combined was similar in laboratory, online, and field studies, supporting generalizability across settings. Based on this meta-analysis, we developed the PRO guidelines which emphasize statistical power, reporting, and open science to set standards for robust spillover research. The Bayesian approach allows for robust conclusions about the presence and absence of spillover as well as continuous updating with new evidence. We hope that the Bayesian approach combined with the PRO guidelines paves the way toward a sustainable overview of robust spillover research that independent researchers can easily update.

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Climate change mitigation depends on tracking public opinion across populations. Social scientists can collaborate with environmental organizations that conduct surveys among their audiences. We teamed up with the non-profit Milieudefensie, who surveyed Dutch attitudes towards climate change in 2019–2020. The large dataset had face-to-face (n= 3,102) and online interviews (n = 30,311) of urbanity, climate concern, policy preferences, interviewer-rated engagement with climate change, and behavior (whether the interviewee provided their email and phone number to the organization). To reveal the representativeness of these kinds of convenience samples, we tested whether attitudes and their associations with behaviors were similar to previous studies. Climate concern, preference for climate policy, and interviewer-rated engagement were high. In the online survey, 47% of respondents signed up for an email newsletter, and 7% provided their phone number. Higher climate concern and preference for climate policy predicted interviewer-rated engagement and behavior (weak to strong associations). Urbanity was not related to concern, policy preferences, or interviewer-rated engagement. Policy preferences did not differ between the face-to-face and online samples. The results provide convergent evidence to conventional online surveys. These Dutch residents appear slightly more engaged with systemic change to mitigate climate change than the general public.