This should happen while amassing data on workplace energy consumption (with a view to reduction) and play-duration so that, where possible, companies can offset the carbon emissions of their player base. From there, Abraham suggests selling games digitally (which already accounts for 90 percent of new game releases), eliminating the hard-to-track emissions of manufacturing and goods transport. The easiest change studios, either big or small, can make is by switching their electricity supply to 100 percent renewable or carbon-offset power. Another way of putting this is that if the games industry were its own country, it would be approximately the 130th-most-intense emitter in the world that year-вЂњan impressive if unwelcome feat,вЂќ Abraham deadpans.Дevelopment emissions are the low-hanging fruit of decarbonization. Abraham admits this number isnвЂ™t perfect, not least because Tencent recently disclosed that its total greenhouse gas emissions alone was equivalent to 5.1 million tons of carbon dioxide in 2021, but he believes itвЂ™s a вЂњgood starting point.вЂќ If AbrahamвЂ™s higher estimate is accurate, he says that would put the game development industry at roughly the same emissions intensity as Slovenia. One of the bookвЂ™s key findings is that in 2020 the emissions of global game production sat between 3 million and 15 million tons of CO 2-equivalent emissions, a figure Abraham calculated from data disclosed by leading companies in their corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports and national employment statistics on the games industry. These video games, powered by electricity which was being generated from burning fossil fuels, existed in a feedback loop with the very atmosphere. Without air-conditioning, the room was already stifling, but with numerous energy-intensive devices switched on-a console, CRT television, PC, and monitor-it became nigh-on unbearable.

While writing the bookвЂ™s introduction in 2019, Abraham thought of how he experienced this fact as a child while gaming in his parentsвЂ™ loft during intense Australian heat. It offers a panoramic, systematized view of the entire industry, illuminating the ways in which so many peopleвЂ™s favorite hobby, often their escape from bad news, is, in fact, exacerbating the climate crisis. вЂњHow do we prevent our planet from being boiled alive?вЂќДЇor the video game industry-from indie developers, AAA studios, and hardware manufacturers to players themselves-AbrahamвЂ™s new book, Digital Games After Climate Change, has answers. вЂњThis is the only game in town now,вЂќ he says. Talking to me over Zoom from his home in Sydney, Abraham wants more direct action-protests, absolutely-but also industry insiders to agitate for change, applying a different kind of grassroots pressure. It stressed that in order to keep warming to the Paris AgreementвЂ™s goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius humanity needs to cut emissions by 43 percent by 2030. WeвЂ™re speaking in April, a few days after the IPCC released its most contentious report yet.

Smartir media player.вЂњHow many more warnings do we need? The science is clear, itвЂ™s unequivocal.вЂќДЄuthor and researcher Ben Abraham is pissed.

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