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Financial Times and Infosys

Europe

Publishing

Laptop screen displaying the video game for Financial Times

Combatting climate change has never been more urgent, but making complex climate science understandable to non-scientists is challenging. That’s why we took the best predictive data set on climate change and built it into a 15-minute game.

The Climate Game asks players to take the role of “global minister for future generations,” owning all policy decisions to lower CO2 emissions to net zero by 2050. This landmark piece of immersive journalism hit 8 million impressions in the first 10 weeks, securing a spot at COP27, with praise from United Nations climate-change stakeholders and Greenpeace, and over 20 awards so far.

Solution

Working with climate scientists from the International Energy Agency who produced bespoke, state-of-the-art climate modeling for the FT, we simplified the road to net zero emissions to create a game that appeals to both today’s powerful leaders and the next generation.

The game represents the first time the cause and effect of actions across key emissions sectors and policy levers have been in the public domain in an engaging, digestible format.

Our greatest challenge in creating the game was capturing the complexities of the journey to net zero while not making the experience too daunting.

Results

The game needed to be accurate without crushing hope, and balance narrative storytelling with advanced predictive data modeling. Immersive, gamified digital storytelling allowed us to walk this tightrope and teach readers via a powerful mix of entertainment and agency.