Projects

Untangling the carbon complexities of the video gaming industry is the first report of it's kind and has been commissioned in support of the Playing for the Planet Alliance. This report addresses the uncertainty in the application of the GHG Protocol accounting and reporting standards to organisations in the video gaming sector. It's a consolidation of learnings and experiences of organisations in the industry as well as a valuable guide for video games businesses on applying GHG accounting standards.

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Ukie and Games London launched a Green Games Guide to help UK games businesses take action against climate change. The two organisations have partnered with the Playing for the Planet Alliance, founded in 2019 by members including Sony Interactive Entertainment, Microsoft, Space Ape, Ustwo games and Sports Interactive and facilitated by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) with the support of GRID-Arendal and Playmob.

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The new Green Games Guide is the UK’s first resource that contains practical advice and outlines steps that games business can take to reduce emissions and waste across their offices and operations. The partnership between Ukie, Games London and the Playing for the Planet Alliance encourages the sector to think about how it can use its huge reach to inspire players to change how they think about the environment, and to start conversations about the wider collective efforts the sector can make.

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Playing for the Planet’s largest-ever survey has found that video games can spur positive actions and attitudes toward the environment in real life. The survey, targeted at gaming communities and designed to unearth attitudes towards environmental issues and environmental content within games, reached 380,000 players across ten games.

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Participating studios included Ustwo, Ubisoft, and Tilting Point, among others, and was launched off the back of 2022’s Green Game Jam, where more than 40 studios came together to explore ways to leverage the industry’s commitment to improving Food, Forests, and our Future using in-game nudges and tactics.

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Neogames Finland Association and The Finnish Game Developers’ Association (Suomen Pelinkehittäjät ry.) built a model for Finnish game companies to estimate their carbon footprint. Homo Ludens has created a calculation sheet based on the model to support the calculations. The sheet can be copied for your use here. All feedback is more than welcome. If you have any thoughts you want to share, don’t hesitate to get in touch with Elina Tyynelä from Neogames (elina@neogames.fi).

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A groundbreaking landmark research paper that explicitly connects environmental psychology to best practices in game design for the purpose of co-creating a common design language for discussing climate action in games. Built by game developers for game developers, in partnership with researchers, climate activists, and people who love games, this initial release details 4 key predictors of pro-environmental behaviours and 19 design tactics.

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"Yes, game developers can help solve Climate change! But where to start? This talk is a 360 overview of the solutions you can deploy as a game developer at any level, in any game, whether your expertise is in Aesthetics, Narrative, Gameplay or Technology."

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Arnaud Fayolle is an Art Director at Ubisoft who has spent the past 15 years working on diverse AAA games such as Forza Horizon 3 & 4, The Division 2, The Last of Us, Deus Ex Mankind Divided and many more. He developed a holistic approach to Game Art, merging the complex elements of Aesthetics, Narrative, Gameplay, and Technology to “create Art that plays great”. You can find him in the IGDA Climate Special Interest Group, co-leading the Game Design Patterns workstream.

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Playing for the Planet’s Carbon Calculator is a validated, user-friendly carbon accounting tool which has been built with and for studios, publishers, and other games industry organisations to facilitate accurate footprinting and address the emissions in need of greatest attention.

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The calculator has been developed with The Carbon Trust alongside input from Playing for the Planet Alliance members, and enables studios to measure emissions and take action in alignment with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.

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A Drawdown-Aligned Framework for the Gaming Industry is a guide for gaming software employees who are on sustainability teams or are generally climate-concerned to understand the high-impact actions that will align their companies with drawdown—the future point in time when levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to steadily decline.

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The guide includes a framework for action, real-life examples, and key gaps and barriers the industry currently faces. With this information in hand, employees can encourage colleagues and decision-makers to integrate the framework into their work, self-evaluate their company’s climate targets, work with leadership to strive for more ambitious climate goals, and formulate sustainable long-term strategies.

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A number of video game studios in the Alliance asked for guidance when investing in carbon credits. In response to this, Playing for the Planet prepared this document with the support from the United Nations Environment Programme and based on guidance from the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM), with the aim to share key principles of carbon credit programme selection and help guide studios' decisions - whether they're a member of the Alliance or not.

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