Green Pledge
 

As part of the initiative “Leaders for Climate Action” GameDuell has committed to the Green Pledge and the goal to become a carbon neutral games company. We strive to do our part to achieve Goal 13 on Climate Action from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, that global net CO2 emissions must drop by 45% between 2010 and 2030 in order to limit global warming to 1.5°C. GameDuell’s mission is to “Bring people together to have a good time with games”, and we cannot fulfill our vision if we don’t protect the environment and ensure a sustainable future.

The carbon clock is ticking...


In our industrial age, the emission of Greenhouse gases such as CO2 plays a decisive role when considering climate change. Sources of CO2 emissions include activities from every con­ceivable area: mobility, production, consumption, food, and so on. A life without CO2 emissions is not possible. As the CO2 content increases, nature will no longer be able to process the excess amount and the atmosphere will become increasingly impermeable to the long-wave thermal radiation reflected by the earth, which leads to a rise in temperature (greenhouse effect). Surpassing the limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius average global temperature rise transforms a gradual, linear process into a very steep, exponential progression. An example would be the loss of the complete ice mass or rainforest as well as an average global temperature increase of 4 degrees Celsius resulting in a devastating effect for all life on earth.

The climate clock is ticking. Scientists agree we have just a few years left to reach zero emissions.

Implementation and commitment
to sustainable climate actions are the key

Flights, heating, servers, and energy are some of the biggest producers of CO2 that a games company, such as GameDuell, generates in its business processes. We are rethinking our business processes and are putting effort into drastically reducing our CO2 footprint.

We are also working on internal information to encourage our team members to be aware of their own impact on the environment including tips to help them reduce their carbon footprint, ways to be greener while traveling, and to achieve zero waste.

Our four green pillars

Reduce
Reduce waste and emissions to a minimum
Refuse
Say no to unnecessary waste and emissions and strive for alternatives
Recycle
Separate garbage and use recycled products
Offset
Compensate greenhouse gas emissions and neutralize them

What we achieved so far during our daily business processes


Minimizing the carbon footprint of our office
 
  • We switched to a sustainable office material supplier with recycled material for the office and our kitchen
  • We make sure that we are buying fair trade and environmentally friendly coffee, milk, fruit, gifts and team clothing
  • We use environmental paper and climate-friendly printing methods and try to minimize our total print volume
  • We use cleaning agents that are at least 98% biodegradable.


Optimizing our waste hierarchy:
 
  • We separate paper, plastic, glass, and organic waste
  • We save more than 17,000 plastic bottles per year: We introduced water dispensers to reduce plastic waste and to reduce the CO2 emissions generated by, for example, bottle transport
  • We make our company events as environmentally friendly as possible (e.g. by using biodegradable plates, bowls, & cutlery)


Inspiring others:
 
  • We are part of the initiative “Leaders for Climate Action” and committed to the Green Pledge and the goal to become a carbon neutral games company.
  • We are members of the initiative “Playing for the planet”, an initiative that is facilitated with the support of the UN Environment Programme. In this initiative, gaming companies reach out to their players to address the world’s biggest environmental challenges and inspire them to take action for the environment. For that reason, we have been taking part in the “Mobile Green Game Jams”, where we have been implementing green activations into our games to educate and activate our users, and plan to also take part in future “Mobile Green Game Jams”.


Energy management:
 
  • Both our office and the data center with our servers are running on green energy, using certified wind and hydroelectric power
  • We use mainly energy efficient computers.


Minimizing emissions through travelling:
 
  • We encourage our team to come to the office by bike - there are over 50 bike racks and a private bike storage available.
  • By changing the travel policy to a more climate-friendly model, we cut down a huge chunk of company flights. Travel for all team members will be minimized to a necessary minimum, where possible conducted with environmentally friendly transport systems only.
  • We avoid domestic flights, opting rather for the train. Where flights are inevitable, we compensate for the emissions.



Offsetting and neutralizing CO2

In the first step, annual (or one-off) CO2 emissions must be calculated. Then the equivalent (e) amount of the emissions is invested in a climate protection project. This saves CO2 because the amount of greenhouse gas won’t be emitted somewhere else in the world.

Therefore the emissions are theoretically net zero because it is irrelevant at which location the emissions are saved. Even though the goal is to not even generate CO2 (e), in any case, it is always more sensible to offset a ton of CO2 emissions that cannot be further reduced for us at present and thus avoid them elsewhere, than to wait until action is also taken (politically and technically) at some point.

The rapidly advancing climate change leaves us no more time - we must take action now. Therefore, offsetting acts as a transition mechanism which enables us to build a sensible temporal bridge until CO2 avoidance is actually completed in Germany.

By carefully selecting projects that are sourced through an expert-in-field that is committed to transparency and carrying out due diligence, we can ensure that our funds are translated into meaningful ends and ensure a genuine offset of harmful greenhouse gas emissions.

in black and white: on a desk a spilled coffee, a dried dead potted plant, on the left hand side of the screen an area with cut down trees
a blooming potted plant, a tidy clean desk, two plush fluffy birds, on the right hand side of the screen a green healthy forest

2020

Our footprint in 2020 slightly increased to 1,465t CO2 in comparison to 2019. Most of this increase can be attributed to our customers playing more games during the pandemic, thus spending more time on their devices and using more energy. Our emissions include both direct sources such as energy use in our office and indirect emissions caused by users playing our games. The emissions are the equivalent of the carbon footprint of 298 people.

We will continue to further minimize our product's carbon footprint and also offset the residual emissions with certified projects so playing our games will stay a compensated experience.

2020

For 2020 we offsetted 100% by supporting:

  • A biogas project in the Netherlands, where excess manure from local farms is turned into biogas which then is used for electricity generation
  • A Solar Water Heater Program in India which aims to disseminate solar water heaters in hospitals, schools, universities, and SMEs across India, providing a reliable supply of hot water at a reasonable cost and cutting down the energy consumption from domestic water heating
  • A Wind Energy Project in Gujarat, India, which feeds additional renewable energy to the electricity grids and therefore reduces air pollution emitted by fossil fuel power plants and increases the reliability of energy supply to the population. The project has created 40 jobs with average hourly earnings higher than the local level and with annual trainings regarding health and safety measures

2019

For 2019 we went a step further and also added all of our external service providers and our actual users to the calculation. We calculated an emission of 1,225t CO2.

The emissions correspond to:

  • 1920 round-trip flights from Hamburg to Mallorca
  • Annual Footprint of 227 People (world average)

2019

For 2019 we offsetted 100% by supporting:

  • A biogas project in the Netherlands, where excess manure from local farms is turned into biogas which then is used for electricity generation
  • A clean water project in Zimbabwe, where access to safe and clean water is provided for the local households and communities. Because of the safe water supply, there is no need for boiling the water with the use of firewood
  • A cookstove project in Kenya, where locally produced fuel-efficient cookstoves are purchased and installed into rural communities, reducing the household wood consumption almost by half, saving CO2e from being released into the atmosphere

2018

Our first calculation for 2018 revealed 292 t of CO2 emitted by our direct business processes, measured according to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.

The emissions correspond to:

  • A car ride of 824,075 km / 512,056 mi
  • The annual CO2 footprint of 32 European citizens
  • The annual CO2 binding of 21,228 beech trees

2018

100% of CO2 offsetted:

  • For 2018, we offsetted our CO2 footprint by supporting the Forest Protection project in Santa Maria, Brazil, which preserves 71,000 hectares of Amazon rainforest, creates an ecosystem for animals and insects, and provides work and income for local people
  • Sustainable forest management ensures that sufficient biomass grows back and that the forest can regenerate. The entire project forest area is certified. Since they also demonstrably save greenhouse gas emissions, they protect the climate.
in black and white: on a desk a spilled coffee, a dried dead potted plant, on the left hand side of the screen an area with cut down trees
a blooming potted plant, a tidy clean desk, two plush fluffy birds, on the right hand side of the screen a green healthy forest

We are proud to be on a path to becoming carbon neutral, taking many steps along the way to calculate and reduce our carbon footprint, and offsetting the remainder via Gold Standard or Verified Carbon Standard climate protection projects.

Act with us

With GameDuell you will become part of an ecologically and socially sustainable company and in our very own "Green Team" you can actively engage in implementing ideas and initiatives to help protect our environment.

  • As part of our GreenTeam you can directly participate in our many green initiatives
  • When buying our office supplies and food we pay attention to fair, biological, environmentally friendly and resource-friendly standards
  • We match your charity donations
  • Social responsibility begins with ourselves: our corporate culture is characterized by mutual trust and respect. In our open and international team we respect and welcome diversity

Sustainability is one of our 10 core values and is lived every day at GameDuell. Starting from the top, GameDuell’s founders Boris & Kai are also co-founders of Leaders for Climate Action, a Berlin based entrepreneurial community that drives climate action. This push to fight climate change is shared throughout the team, inspiring causes such as our internal “Green Team”, influencing travel & events, office supplies, and also contract negotiations with companies such as electricity suppliers, online servers, & recycling within the office.

Co-Founder of GameDuell

"Supporting a sustainable way of living and working has been part of our mission from early on. We are happy that this movement has grown over time."

Kai Bolik, Co-Founder of GameDuell

Co-Founder of GameDuell

"We are very happy to be transforming into a carbon-neutral games company and to share our efforts. Let’s do it and have fun together on the way."

Boris Wasmuth, Co-Founder of GameDuell

Green Team Member

"I am happy to contribute to the Green Team at GameDuell as trying to be zero waste is part of my life. I am glad it can be also a part of my professional career."

Aga, Green Team Member

Leaders for Climate Action

"From day one GameDuell has been an active member of our community, not only implementing climate actions internally but also sharing the insights with others."

Anna, Leaders for Climate Action

Join our team today and help us in our mission to become carbon neutral - you can find all open positions here.

Want to know more about our Green Team, sustainability, or our measures to become carbon neutral? Contact us here.

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