Earlier today, various leaders of the video games industry came together to formally commit to using their platforms to help take action and combat climate change.
These commitments were announced under the banner of “Play for the Planet” and was part of the UN Climate Action Summit that took place at the UN Headquarters in New York.
According to the report from the UN Environment Programme, 21 gaming companies have made the pledge and these commitments will result in a 30 million tonne reduction of CO2 by the year 2030.
PlayStation is making substantial efforts to combat climate change with "Playing for the Planet," as part of an alliance with industry leaders. Learn more: https://t.co/6WcJzaJFPI pic.twitter.com/rSBfZJ7AL6
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) September 23, 2019
These results will be through active efforts such as tree planting as well as incorporating greener methodology when it comes to energy management, packaging and the recycling of gaming devices.
Some of the commitments from companies include:
Sony Interactive Entertainment
PlayStation 5’s Low-Power Mode Will Consume ‘Much’ Less Electricity https://t.co/rjC0I0q14V #PlayStation5 #Sony pic.twitter.com/q2nod34vHD
— The Escapist (@EscapistMag) September 23, 2019
Sony Interactive Entertainment will unveil new progress and plans to utilize energy efficient technology (on-track to avoid 29 million tonnes of CO2 emissions by 2030), to introduce low power suspend mode for next generation PlayStation, to assess and report their carbon footprint and to educate and inspire the gaming community to take action on climate change.
Microsoft
Microsoft will announce the expansion of its existing operational commitment to carbon neutrality, established in 2012, into its devices and gaming work. It will set a new target to reduce its supply chain emissions by 30 per cent by 2030 – including end-of-life for devices – and to certify 825,000 Xbox consoles as carbon neutral in a pilot programme.
.@Microsoft biz operations have been carbon neutral since 2012—but that’s not enough. Today, we’re extending that to our products and devices with a pilot to make 825K @Xbox consoles carbon neutral. #ClimateActionSummit #UNGA2019
— Microsoft_Green (@Microsoft_Green) September 23, 2019
In addition, Microsoft will engage gamers in sustainability efforts in real life through the Minecraft its ‘Build a Better World’ initiative, which has seen players take more than 20 million in-game actions.
Google Stadia, which is set to launch later in the year, will produce a new Sustainable Game Development Guide as well as funding research into how “green nudges” can be effectively incorporated into gameplay.
Supercell, Sybo Games and Space Ape
Supercell (Clash of Clans) will offset the entire footprint of their community, Rovio (Angry Birds) has offset the carbon impact from their players charging their devices, and Sybo (Subway Surfer) and Space Ape (Fastlane) will offset 200 per cent of their studio and their gamers mobile energy use. Guidance documents will assist other companies to take similar actions.
Wild Works and Green Man Gaming
#News Green Man Gaming pledges to help the @UN fight climate change
👉 https://t.co/CVRGJtOrWo pic.twitter.com/bH4Le3dyMr
— Green Man Gaming (@GreenManGaming) September 23, 2019
Wild Works (Animal Jam) will integrate restoration elements in games and, like Green Man Gaming, they will focus on restoring some of the world’s forests with major tree-planting initiatives.
Ubisoft
Ubisoft to use eco-friendly cases, stop shipping paper manuals with games http://bit.ly/a3M31O
— Geek.com (@geekdotcom) April 20, 2010
Ubisoft will develop in-game green themes and will source materials from eco-friendly factories and Sports Interactive will eliminate 20 tonnes of packaging by switching from plastic to a recycled alternative for all future Football Manager releases.
Creative Mobile, Reliance Games and iDreamSky
Creative Mobile’s ZooCraft will evolve into a conservation-focused game with Reliance Games (Little Singham) generating awareness in the fastest growing mobile gaming market by creating awareness with kids to make them ambassadors for climate change with in-game events and initiatives across India. The biggest independent gaming platform in China, iDreamSky has committed to putting green nudges into its games.
E-Line Media, Strange Loop and Internet of Elephants
ECO (Strange Loop Games)
A Minecraft-like where you have to advance with a group of other to the point where you can, as a server, destroy a meteor within a month IRL time.Growth has to be done carefully though, your actions have an impact on the environment. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/hfqhIFsfAd
— Spooky Spooy Troy (@DampWetStew) January 30, 2019
E-Line Media (Never Alone, Beyond Blue), Strange Loop (Eco) and Internet of Elephants (Safari Central) will share their expertise of making high impact environmentally-oriented games into the Alliance
Twitch and Niantic Inc
Finally, Twitch have committed to utilizing their platform to spread this message to the global gaming community with Niantic Inc (Pokemon Go) committing to engage their community to act around sustainability issues.
This article was first published in Hardware Zone.
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