A new sustainability tracking application is going to be launched on World Biodiversity Day as part of an awareness-raising project aimed at young people in 8 European Countries. The goal of the Climate Game application is to reduce the carbon footprint of users to below 3 tonnes of Co2 per year.

To achieve the goals of the Paris Climate agreement, every person on Earth should emit less than 3 tonnes of Co2 per year. But most people cannot assess the emission of their consumption. Activities logged by the first 100 test users of the application equalled to 4.8 tonnes of annual Co2 emissions.

The game aims to help people realize the connection between the loss of biodiversity and their consumption, and  illustrates how we run out of space if we keep consuming in huge quantities  in a simplified way. The game was created to assist people in developing a so-called carbon-footprint intuition. It contributes to  breaking down long term goals and numbers to inspire daily action., and also aims to show how small steps can have a significant impact if a lot of us act together. The long term goal is to automate tracking and create a more engaging experience to reduce Co2 emissions together. In those countries participating in the project, we have listed animals that are threatened with extinction, whose lives can be saved by living sustainably. More information about them is available in the app. 

“In real life, I don’t get any feedback on what good it does if I don’t  use a car for a week, or do a vegan challenge in January. I also don’t see where all the trash that I throw in the garbage ends up . In about 30 years, we must face the consequences  of our current actions on the planet, but we don’t have that much time to stop polluting. That is why we created an imaginary world, where your real life actions have immediate effect” - said Kitti Borissza, project manager, Climate Game app.

Hope and encouragement

The Climate Game application was developed as part of an EU-funded project, called ‘Game on! Don’t let climate change end the game’, which is an initiative of a consortium consisting of 10 partners from 8 Central and Eastern European countries. They try to communicate from another perspective, and intend to inspire people to change their behaviour by conveying positive messages.

"In most cases, messages focused on the negative consequences of climate change are used to draw people's attention to the topic by appealing to disaster, helplessness and fear. In the Game On project, we asked: what happens if we think of climate change as a strategic game? We are introducing a new method with playfulness and positive messages that we expect to give people the hope and encouragement to make a difference. The Climate Game app contributes to this by giving a playful insight into Co2 emissions" - said Andras Sztaniszlav, Head of Communications, Game On project."

“Our goal is to raise awareness among as many young people and adults as possible, and encourage them to take action, so that we can play the “game” launched by our planet millions of years ago for a long time to come” - said Thor Morante Brigneti, Communications & Project Coordinator, CEEweb for Biodiversity. 

The creators of the project are hosting an online AMA (Ask-Me-Anything) hour on May 21  at 15:00 CET on Zoom, where the creators introduce the app and answer questions about the project and the application. The app is available both for Android and iOs.

About the project:
 

The project ‘Game on! Don’t let climate change end the game’ is an initiative of a consortium of 10 partners from 8 Central and Eastern European countries to activate the global youth and react to the existential threat climate change represents for the future of humankind. The project has been made possible thanks to the co-financing of the Development Education and Awareness Raising (DEAR) mechanism.

The Consortium strongly believes in the energized, strong will of younger generations to push forth for the urgent systemic change required to overcome the challenges posed by climate change. Thus, the project strives to activate this energy all across the region and the globe through a ‘gamification’ approach to initially tackle three core areas: Biodiversity Conservation, Adaptation and Mitigation, and Climate Justice.
 

The project has been deliberately given the name ‘Game on’, as over the next four years a number of playful activities are going to bring a sustainable lifestyle closer to the people. Geocaching, creating an own board game, making awareness-raising videos and developing an own application are all among the plans, providing concrete help in answering unresolved questions to keep the game alive with conscious decisions. All this is done to bring the main topics of the project - biodiversity, culture and climate justice - as close to the people as possible.

Our goal is to raise awareness on the problems of and solutions to climate change, as well as to push the massive mobilization of people to demand and make the changes we need.

This is the Climate Game for our survival. We must win it.