Download Climate Change Game rules

Climate Change Game!
This is a simulation game, which will help students to:
 understand how countries which use a lot of energy and produce a lot of carbon emissions, are the main
contributors to climate change;
 empathise with the experience of people in countries vulnerable to the impact of climate change;
 understand how carbon trading works, and judge whether it is a fair and effective way to cut emissions.
The Rules
 Divide the class into 8 groups.
 4 groups will represent a rich country which produces luxury cars.
 4 groups will represent a poor country which produces crops.
 Don’t tell the countries what they will produce, or whether they are a rich or poor country.
 Give each team a production pack which will include 2 pens, 2 scissors, 2 product templates and an instruction
card. They can only use what it in their production pack.
 Countries make money by producing their goods. They do this by cutting out shapes of their product using the
template, and then drawing in the shape (roughly!)
 The aim of the game is to make as much money as possible.
 Choose two students to be the bankers, who sit at the front. The countries will sell their products to the bank,
which will buy them at the following rate:
o 5 luxury cars = £1000
o 5 crops = £100
Phase 1 (5-10 minutes):
Straight forward production. Countries produce and sell as many products as they can and make as much money as
possible.
Phase 2 (5 minutes):
Stop the game and ask how much money each country has made. Then explain that because so many cars have been
produced, the amount of carbon emissions has risen, accelerating climate change. As a result their has been terrible
flooding around the world, and all those countries who produce crops have lost their homes to the flooding. They must
pay the bank £100 (or £200!) to buy materials for a new home. Team then carry on as before.
Phase 3 (5-10 minutes):
Stop the game and explain that due to the serious flooding, the United Nations has decided to take action to tackle
climate change. As a result each country now has a limit to the amount of carbon they can produce. Each country is
given 10 carbon credits.
To produce one car you now need one carbon credit. From now on, every time you sell a car to the bank, you must also
hand over a carbon credit. You cannot sell a car if you do not have a carbon credit.
However, since growing crops does not create carbon emissions, there is no limit to how much the poor countries can
produce.
However, rich countries can now negotiate with the poor countries to buy up their spare carbon credits. It’s up to them
both to agree a price.
At an appropriate time, finish the game – it may help to offer a cash reward to the teams that tidy up the quickest!
Handout the ‘Think about it’ sheets in pairs and ask students to complete it. Then lead a class discussion around the
questions.
Resources needed:
 ‘Luxury cars’ and ‘Crops’ templates (laminated)
 Carbon credit tokens
 Scissors & pens
 Instruction cards
 Lots of plain paper