From a global perspective, 70% of greenhouse gases come from cities. They can and must therefore make an important contribution to the fight against climate change. This is the subject of our simulation game ‘Climate-Neutral City’, which we developed on behalf of the Goethe-Institut. 

So far, the simulation game has been used in four project rounds, mainly in schools abroad, in cooperation with the Goethe-Instituts in 14 countries and cities, from the Czech Republic to Egypt, India and China. The simulation game is run on our Senaryon platform and is independently implemented by teachers in the respective national languages. In the meantime, Senaryon has learned 10 new languages in which the game is now available!

But the simulation game itself is also special: via Senaryon, players can see directly how their climate plan for the fictitious city of Fonta affects greenhouse gas emissions and other indicators such as jobs or energy costs. They can choose from options such as expanding cycle paths, switching the energy supply to renewables or greening the city. The measures that have been decided on appear on the interactive city map, which changes from round to round. 

The simulation game is digital, but is usually played on site and sometimes online. We call the on-site implementation with Senaryon ‘Plus’ because Senaryon adds a digital layer to the classic on-site setting. However, it is always possible to run the game online only. 

The special potential of Senaryon lies in the possibility of designing simulation games that are not purely text-based. Of course, there are also verbal negotiations in the simulation game ‘Climate-Neutral City’. But in addition, the software directly reflects the effects of the participants' decisions on the future of “their” city. How does the expansion of cycle paths affect CO2 emissions? What are the benefits of building a new underground railway or decommissioning the coal-fired power station? What social effects does the path towards climate neutrality have? These and many other questions are measured using important indicators that are continuously updated in the game, depending on the decisions made by the groups. The whole thing is visualised by an interactive map that illustrates the decisions made and, at the end of the game, shows what the climate-neutral city might look like. 

Further information about Senaryon can be found at www.senaryon.com, and about the Climate-Neutral City project on the website of the Goethe Institute.