Ben Abraham

GTG Links No. 17 – March 5

Hello GTG readers – I tried keeping it short this week, because I have a) been quite ill, and b) I also did something bad to my back so I need to not sit down for too long. As usual however, the volume of news has other ideas. It's

AfterClimate’s 2022 emissions, plus a prototype method for monitoring & measuring in the work-from-home era

With 2022 now squarely in the rear view mirror, it’s time to start thinking about the annual emissions reporting process. I make a point of emphasising that the games industry needs to lead by example and get its own emissions down before spending too much time and energy trying

GTG Links No. 16 – Feb 17

It's been a couple weeks since a links post, so I've stored up way, way too much. Strap in for some of the latest climate and energy news relevant to the games industry. Why we do what we do Monthly averaged baseline CO2 levels measured at

What trying to travel low carbon tells us about emissions in games

I spent January interstate, visiting friends, on a sort of open-ended trip, no firm return date. When it came time to plan my trip back from Melbourne to Sydney I wanted to see what it was like to do the climate-friendly thing and avoid flying home. I also wanted to

GTG Links No. 15 – Jan 27th

It's the middle of summer here in Australia – I figured Northern Hemisphere readers might appreciate sharing in the excess sunny vibes this week (it's going to be 37ºC tomorrow). I'm also going to start trialing putting some of my notes on stories behind the

How exposed is the game industry to dodgy carbon credits?

The big, BIG news this week is the joint investigation between The Guardian, Die Zeit, and investigative journalists at SourceMaterial, involving studies conducted by several teams of researchers, publishing their findings in three papers so far, pointing to deep, structural problems with certain kinds of carbon credits. The research calls

GTG Links no.14 – Jan 13

Happy new year! 2022 was a landmark year for the games industry as we saw a new level of action on climate and sustainability goals from many corners of the industry. I'm excited for the year ahead and for new opportunities to bend the emissions curve downward. Xbox&

My book is on sale – 70% off

Hey GTG readers, just a super quick one – if you've been holding off on buying a copy of Digital Games After Climate Change because of the extortionate pricing  the publisher Palgrave is running an end of year sale. Use the code PALHC for 70% off (and maybe even

GTG Links No. 13 - Dec 17th

Oh no I have saved up too much, too many links. But it's a minor Christmas miracle, a bumper crop of end-of-year links and interesting reading. Enjoy! Nvidia acknowledges green imperatives You could be forgiven for thinking it was not even on their radar, given the insane new

Where does the impetus for ESG come from, and is it fit for purpose?

One of the questions that has been lurking unarticulated at the back of my mind for a while is the question of who or what is the animating force behind ESG disclosures. I don’t mean in the immediate sense of “who is the author of ESG reports” because that’

GTG Links No. 12 – Nov 25th

Yowza, what a week! The snapshot is out, and I've already had some great conversations about it with a number of different people. Always happy to chat about it with anyone interested in the methodology, the data, whatever. Lots more happening around games and sustainability though, so let&

Announcing AfterClimate’s first annual game industry net zero snapshot

It’s here. The first (to my knowledge) attempt to collate all of the net zero pledges, sustainability announcements, ESG metrics and other disclosures from the biggest game companies in the world. There’s also a detailed spreadsheet to pore over with all the comparative net zero dates, key announced

A couple of talks about games, tech and their impacts

Its been an incredibly busy couple of weeks, and I came down with something nasty at the end of the last one – on the day I usually write my newsletter – so that's why its been a bit of a gap. But in the background I've also

GTG Links No.11 – Nov 5th

It's been a super busy couple of weeks here at GTG so please excuse the lack of much editorial commentary this week, its mostly just the links! I will tease that I have some very big, very cool news to announce shortly. My only hint is the following

Exploring ESG art: What can we learn from corporate photos?

ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) disclosure standards require the production of an almost endless stream of corporate communications, principally in the form of written reports. These are mostly read only by investors, wonks, or other weirdos like myself, but they are also expressions made for the corporate community, reflecting its

GTG Links No.10 - October 21st

This year has gone at lightning pace, and there's now a mere 64 days till Christmas. As Norther Hemisphere readers start to rug up, enjoy the cooler weather, here at GTG we are preparing for our third summer in a row of wild, wet, La Nina driven weather.

MIGW Recap: Everyone’s thinking about sustainability, just not that kind (yet)

I spent last week down in Melbourne for International Games Week, speaking at both GCAP and G4C conferences and attending a few of the other events like Freeplay’s wonderful Parallels showcase. It was a fantastic week, catching up with many old friends and a ton of new ones. Across

GTG Links No.9: September 30th

A lot going on with some pretty neat news. Let's dive on in. iOS 16 to get emissions optimised charging iOS 16 to Gain ‘Clean Energy Charging’ Option Later This YearIn an update coming to iOS 16 later this year, Apple plans to add a new “Clean Energy

Net Zero and the games industry: Unpacking the United States 2050 strategy

By now, most will be familiar with the idea of net-zero targets. These are goals set by governments around the world for countries to achieve zero annual emissions, usually around 2050. Some are binding through legislation, some are aspirational, and some are simply attempts to neutralise domestic political issues (looking

GTG links No. 8 – September 9th

When I started collecting news and links to articles relevant to greening the games industry I was a little concerned that I would sometimes not have enough to fill out a decent sized post. Thankfully, this has never been the case, and I find it an incredibly encouraging sign of

Featured

AfterClimate is a new way to green the games industry

A big part of what I’ve been concerned with here over the past couple of months (and in my book before that) has been the big picture challenges facing the whole of the games industry – from the energy demand baked into next-gen consoles, to the need for faster electricity

game consoles

GTG Links No.7 – August 19th

Just in time for the weekend – some reading on cloud gaming, device 'death dates' and a bunch of the latest impacts of heat and drought accross the world. Cloud Gaming is coming – but in what form? Xbox Cloud Gaming hourly usage increased by 1800% in the past yearA

Offsetting CO2 from flights: A Taylor Swift, Valve Company Holiday, & Richard Garriott Space Flight Special

An interesting little bit of news this week is a report from Yard that calculated the CO2 equivalent emissions from a bunch of celebrities' private jets. Taylor Swift comes in at number one: Yard's research found that Miss Swift is the biggest celebrity CO2e polluter of this

GTG Links No.6 – July 29th

There has been so much climate, games and tech news this past fortnight I was tempted to do a links post last week. I don't want to overload anyone's inbox though, so let me know if you have a strong preference for longer or more frequent

climate advocacy

What kind of work is climate advocacy in the games industry?

Climate advocacy – like the climate crisis itself – is riddled with paradoxes and contradictions. The contours of the crisis itself seem to demand several things at once: urgency, effectiveness, pragmatism, justice, even as these frequently seem out of reach. Just as we can recognise that the greatest burden to decarbonise rests