Outdoor thermal comfort and cognition impact pro-environmental behaviors: evidence from a field experiment in the tropics.

Introduction: Climate change and the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect pose a serious threat, particularly for tropical countries like Singapore, which experience high air temperatures and humidity levels and are heating up twice as fast as the global average. Policy interventions have focused on promoting individuals' engagement in pro-environmental behaviors to mitigate urban heat and CO Methods: Using a quasi-experimental field design involving 309 older adults and a novel analytical framework, we assessed the relationship between thermal comfort, cognitive control, and pro-environmental behavior. Results: We found that low thermal comfort negatively affects cognitive control, which in turn significantly moderates the relationship between pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors, as well as between awareness and behaviors. Specifically, individuals with higher cognitive control capacity demonstrated a stronger moderating effect, helping to close the Discussion: Policies aimed at preserving thermal comfort and enhancing heat adaptation can support not only the health and wellbeing of senior citizens but also their pro-environmental behaviors. This presents a potentially central lever for behavioral change initiatives.