In this meetup, MGC researcher, Chloé Germaine, will represent the Sustainable Games Alliance and the STRATEGIES project. We present the findings of two research projects on the impact of AI on sustainability goals, aiming to equip developers with the knowledge that can help align the use of these technologies with sustainability.

In the first, Ben Abraham presents a summary of key projections from the International Energy Agency’s “Energy and AI” report, what it means for climate goals, and an overview of existing data sources for environmental calculations of AI training and inference.  

We will then hear from Chloé Germaine, who will share headlines from a report on the use of AI in the games industry, part of the STRATEGIES Horizon Europe project. Chloé will make the case that a lack of visibility into the true environmental costs of AI is enabling greenwashing. She will argue that adoption decisions are being driven by hype and competitive pressure rather than evidence, risking wasted investment. We share the information developers need to make informed and responsiblechoices in AI use.

Dr Chloé Germaine is Reader in Environmental Humanities in the School of English at Manchester Metropolitan University, where she co-directs the Manchester Game Centre. Her research considers the climate justice and environmental impacts of games, including the potential for their design and use in climate education and activism. She is co-lead of the STRATEGIES research project, co-funded by Innovate UK and Horizon Europe. 

Dr Benjamin Abraham is the research and standard lead for the Sustainable Games Alliance, developing a game industry-specific GHG emissions standard to accelerate climate action. He is the author of the book 'Digital Games After Climate Change’, and has a newsletter called Greening the Games Industry.