Parts Per Million – The Climate Crisis Game

Why is it so difficult to act on climate change?

Aren’t we all in it together?

Can we tackle environmental crises while moving to a fairer society?

Playing this game will help you answer these questions while training you in skills needed to implement solutions. How will you persuade others of the wisdom of your policies? Can you amend other people’s proposals to suit your ends? Are you able to keep a straight face while selling a much amended and now convoluted proposal? Who says fighting the climate crisis can’t involve serious fun?

Global heating is the most important issue we face, yet we seem immobilised by the scale of the problem. Parts Per Million breaks it down into manageable proportions and turns it into an immersive game. If you want something to happen, you must negotiate with others to bring it about. But not everyone wants the same things. You play as different groups with different interests and must identify the alliances you’re able to form. It’s a game not everyone can win but which everyone can lose.

Parts Per Million is a game for four to eight players. It has both board game and role play elements. Players play as factions seeking to influence action of climate change to reflect their interests. You don’t need a games master but, in addition to the rule book, you’ll also need: 

  • Between 4 and 8 Faction Cards which you can print from our website or simply write the text on pieces of card or paper.
  • A stock of Amendment Cards which you can print from our website or simply use blank pieces of card or paper – around the same number of cards per player as the number of players in the game should more than suffice. 
  • 1 envelope per player. These should be big enough for your Amendment Cards to fit inside. If you’re printing off the cards from the website, we recommend C7 size envelopes.
  • 3 Support/Oppose Tokens per player – For these, you can use any token or object that has 2 clearly distinguishable sides. Coins, for example, are ideal – with heads representing support and tails representing oppose. 
  • Writing implements.

The development of Parts Per Million was supported by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung with funds of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of the Federal Republic of Germany