There are over 2 billion computer gamers across the world, one in three of the world’s population, and they can play a key role in battling the climate crisis.

As we approach World Environment Day 2022, an increasing number of gaming companies are embedding environmental themes in their games to reach gamers and engage with them.

In 2019 the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) launched Playing for the Planet in partnership with the gaming industry. Today over 50 gaming companies have signed up and are including environmental themes in their games.

You can read an article on gaming and the environment here.

With World Environment Day 2022 fast approaching, it is sometimes difficult to know what we can do on an individual level to help fight the climate crisis.

It is clear change is needed but it’s often hard to know where to start, the situation can seem overwhelming.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the ActNow Speak Up! campaign have put together a guide to help individuals. The guide can be viewed here and includes tips such as talking to your friends, family and co-workers about reducing their carbon pollution, lobbying politicians and businesses, walking or cycling instead of driving and increasing the number of plant-based meals you eat.

The theme of World Environment Day 2022 will be #OnlyOneEarth, highlighting the fact we have one planet and we must protect its resources.  

This year’s event hosted by Sweden on 5 June will also emphasize the need to create transformative policy and lifestyle changes so that we can live sustainably in harmony with nature.  

The theme “Only One Earth” was the slogan for the first United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, held in Stockholm in 1972. This conference put sustainable development on the global agenda and led to the establishment of World Environment Day. Fifty years later, Sweden is also hosting Stockholm+50 from 2 to 3 June.

Ahead of this year's World Environment Day, Hollywood legend Edward Norton visited Kenya in his role as a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for Biodiversity.  

Norton, an avid environmentalist, saw how the Kenyan government and local communities were working together to protect the African elephant. This work has seen Kenya’s elephant population nearly double in the last 30 years. 

The event which will be held on 5 June, is the biggest international day for the environment. Led by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and held annually since 1973, the event has grown to be the largest global platform for environmental outreach, with millions of people from across the world engaging to protect the planet. 

For more information, check out the website here and keep following this feed for updates.

Preparations for World Environment Day, which will be held on 5 June, have already begun.

At the iconic Rockefeller Center in New York, 192 crowd-sourced pieces of biodegradable art have replaced the country flags of the United Nations members. The art takeover will raise awareness of the climate crisis and draw attention to the urgent need to protect planetary health.

The selected designs were chosen by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Climate Museum, a New York-based museum dedicated to highlighting the climate crisis and will be displayed from April 1 to May 6 to commemorate Earth Day and again on 5 June to celebrate World Environment Day.

“This collaboration with the Rockefeller Center is a great opportunity to call for urgent actions for a healthy planet for the prosperity of all,” said Ligia Noronha, the UN Assistant Secretary-General and Head of the New York Office. “This is a critical year marking important environmental milestones, including UNEP’s 50th anniversary and Stockholm+50, to gather momentum to address the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.”

Hundreds of designs were submitted from around the world, with winning entries focusing on themes ranging from biodiversity and deforestation to global warming and clean energy.

As we approach World Environment Day be sure to follow this feed for updates and news.