A role-playing sustainability game developed by Cranfield University, a British public research university specialising in sciences, technology, and management, will be featured at the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), hosted in Glasgow next month.
‘Exploring Sustainable Futures’, developed in partnership with Forum for the Future and the Academy of Business in Society (ABIS) as part of EU-Innovate, is a strategy-based learning experience which allows students and executives to explore concepts, skills, and knowledge relating to sustainability in business. It will be featured as a ‘Green Zone’ activity, accessible to the public, at COP26. Cranfield University points out that ‘Exploring Sustainable Futures’ aligns itself with the ambitions and ideals of the conference by asking those playing to think broadly about the future and imagine a more sustainable world before 2050.
In the game, five players take on the roles of an established business, an entrepreneur, a civil society organization, and a policy maker. Then, one of four alternative futures, reflecting the diversity of economies and various cultural systems around the globe, is chosen. The players must all react sustainably to induced changes in the economy, society, and technology of the scenario chosen.
“Playing this game has helped Cranfield students explore the radical changes that will have to happen in business, and in society, to achieve a Net Zero and sustainable world,” explains Dr Rosina Watson, Senior Lecturer in Sustainability at Cranfield University. “Players experience how the interrelated actions of businesses, government and citizens will shape that future for good or ill, and come away understanding how all sectors of society will have to play a part.”
As part of COP26, members of the public will help those playing the ‘Exploring Sustainable Futures’ game in a dialogic reflection upon the anticipation of sustainable futures, showing either support or opposition to the methodologies employed by the role-playing contestants.
“Achieving Net Zero demands rethinking how we live, work, and do business, and understanding the steps people and organisations can take to drive these changes,” explains
Sue Garrard, Sustainability Strategy Advisor for Unilever. “This involves having a vision of what a just and sustainable future could look like, seeing business as part of an interconnected system, taking bold decisions and being able to take people with us in those decisions, and collaborating with others. These are all skills this game teaches.”
