Environmental and climate protection in the German games industry

The United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals play an important role for the German games industry. Whether game developers or publishers, esports event organisers, educational institutions or service providers in the games sector: when it comes to environmental and climate protection in particular, the urgency of the issue is clear. That is why the vast majority of companies are getting involved with dedicated projects, both to operate more sustainably and to raise awareness of the issue. These range from energy-related measures and environmentally friendly packaging concepts to addressing environmental and climate protection within the games themselves. Companies structure their efforts in very different ways: some have set up small internal ‘green teams’ to develop and implement the relevant measures, while at others the topic is driven by senior management.

Sustainability, and environmental and climate protection in particular, are also important concerns for us as game – The German Games Industry Association, as well as for our five subsidiaries. We have reviewed and optimised all of our working processes, and our offices have been operating on a climate-neutral basis since 2021 through avoidance, reduction and offsetting. To achieve this, we work with ClimatePartner to support climate protection projects such as improved cookstoves in Nyungwe, Rwanda, and ocean protection to keep plastic out of the oceans. In doing so, we offset the CO2 emissions that arise from things such as day-to-day operations, employees’ commutes and business travel, and that cannot yet be avoided.

Since June 2021, we have also been part of the Playing for the Planet Alliance, a collaboration between the United Nations and the games industry that was founded at the 2019 UN Climate Summit in New York and is supported by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). Its members commit to concrete, measurable sustainability measures, such as reducing CO2 emissions or integrating environmental messages into games. At the heart of the Alliance is the annual Green Game Jam, in which studios embed environmental campaigns directly into their games: in 2025, more than 55 participating studios raised donations for nature conservation. The Alliance also provides its members with tools such as a carbon calculator and a guide to reaching net-zero targets.

Sustainability is also a top priority at our gamescom, the world’s biggest games event. As part of the ‘gamescom goes green‘ sustainability initiative, gamescom has been the first climate-friendly games event since 2020 and one of the first events of its size to adopt such a comprehensive approach. Every year, further sustainability measures are introduced, in part to reduce CO2 emissions even more. For the core event, the remaining emissions are offset by 100 per cent in cooperation with ClimatePartner. Exhibitors can also make a voluntary contribution via ClimatePartner to offset emissions caused, for example, by stand construction or travel to the event. Visitors, too, are given the chance to make a voluntary climate contribution through the ‘Green Ticket’, helping to expand the gamescom forest near Bayreuth, which has now grown to more than 33,000 square metres. gamescom also adopted many other sustainability measures: free public transport tickets; partnerships with organisations for things like bottle deposit donations, the reuse of stand-building materials and food donations; the use of sustainable materials; and wider initiatives by co-organiser Koelnmesse to make the exhibition grounds more sustainable in areas such as logistics, energy supply and mobility. All ongoing developments are made transparent at gamescom.global.

We all know what an enormous challenge climate change poses for society, and we are working in a variety of ways to play our part as the games industry.