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Over the last 18 months, Playing for the Planet members have been exploring how the video games industry can address their carbon emissions in alignment with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, starting with 2023’s Untangling the Carbon Complexities of the Video Gaming Industry report, which brought 10 studios together to confirm the boundaries of scope, and determine whose emissions belong to who.
This formed the foundations for Playing for the Planet’s Carbon Calculator, a validated, user-friendly carbon accounting tool built with, and for, studios, publishers, and other games organisations to facilitate accurate footprinting and address the industry emissions in need of greatest attention. Developed by The Carbon Trust, the calculator has now entered beta testing within the Alliance ahead of a planned public rollout in early 2025.
We want to thank everyone who has supported the development of the tool with their insight and feedback thus far, particularly our pilot testers Scharl Scott (Unity), Tommi Lappalainen (Rovio), and Jane Campbell (ustwo games), as their participation highlighted where additional user guidance and tips would be most useful, and helped to validate that the results being produced were in-line with expectations.
The calculator rolls out alongside additional supporting resources, including a 27 page methodology document, and supplementary guide to help users get started with footprinting basics and data collection tips.
We also plan to talk to others who have made calculators to swap notes and share insights, and while The Carbon Trust will conduct an annual refresh of the calculator back-end data, such as emission factors, to maintain the validity of the results it provides, and keep the tool updated year-over-year.
We’re excited to finally get the calculator into the hands of Alliance members this month, who will be beta testing the tool for the rest of 2024 ahead it releasing to the wider industry as a public good, supported by a cost-neutral model to cover licensing fees and data updates.
We also know that carbon footprinting is just the first part of the climate action journey, and so we plan to support users of the calculator with additional guidance on how to drive action across their businesses with their emissions data. This focus will continue to drive Playing for the Planet’s wider mission to facilitate and accelerate sector-wide decarbonisation of the games industry.
Matt Anderson is a Senior Consultant for The Carbon Trust, an expert partner helping businesses, governments, and organisations decarbonise and accelerate to Net Zero around the world.
