No Gamescom has ever been as environmentally and climate-friendly as this year: With Gamescom goes green, a project started in 2022 to make the world's largest event for games much more sustainable.
Building on existing measures, such as free public transport tickets or the Gamescom forest, the Gamescom organizers Koelnmesse and the game association have set themselves the goal of increasing the Gamescom as a whole to be climate neutral by reducing, avoiding and offsetting CO2 emissions.
Gamescom: Tons of CO2 offset
The first steps towards this were taken this year: in cooperation with "ClimatePartner", the core event was climate-neutral with all areas for which Koelnmesse and the game association are responsible (including exhibition center infrastructure, themed areas, shows, staff and mobility). The CO2 emissions of almost 3.000 tons of CO2 were offset by supporting two certified climate protection projects.
Exhibitors were also able to voluntarily take part in climate protection projects and thus reduce their carbon footprint. Numerous companies took part, such as astragon Entertainment, Bandai Namco Entertainment, Black Forest Games, devcom, McDonald's Germany, Mediencluster NRW, Microsoft/Xbox, PLAION, Rocket Beans Entertainment, Indie Arena Booth, TikTok and Western Digital. Other exhibitors implemented their own concepts, with which they made their appearance CO2-neutral.
Another highlight was the partnership with 'Playing for the Planet', an initiative of the United Nations (UN), through which the Gamescom goes green award was presented for the first time. Visitors could also take part in Gamescom goes green and buy a Green Ticket or donate online. The proceeds went to the Gamescom forest near Bayreuth.
Thanks to the commitment of the community and a donation of 10.000 euros from McDonalds Germany, around 4.300 square meters of forest were reforested, which has increased the Gamescom forest to a total of 22.600 square meters this year. Devcom, the conference for all game developers during Gamescom week, has also taken part in Gamescom goes green and was itself completely climate neutral for the first time.
“With Gamescom goes green, we have made a very good start this year for a much more sustainable event and I am proud that we are pioneers in major events and gaming events worldwide. A particular strength of the concept is the joint commitment of firstly us as organizers, secondly the companies involved and thirdly the community. This makes it clear that we can all only stop climate change and protect the environment together. But we're still a long way from reaching our goal. Building on the experience gained this year, we will continue to develop Gamescom's sustainability strategy in the coming years," says game Managing Director Felix Falk.
“We at Koelnmesse have been strongly involved in the topic of sustainability for several years now and, for example, we were one of the first trade fair companies in Germany to join the Net Zero Carbon Events initiative of the global trade fair industry. With the Gamescom goes green project, we have once again taken Gamescom one step ahead and were able to achieve an impressive result. We will continue to build on this – at Gamescom and at other future Koelnmesse events,” says Oliver Frese, Managing Director and COO of Koelnmesse.
* = Affiliate link/advertisementAs an Amazon Associate, we earn money from qualifying purchases. If you make a purchase through one of the links, we receive a portion of the purchase price as commission. This doesn't cost you anything extra, but it helps support our website. Last updated on September 13.12.2025, XNUMX / Affiliate links / Images from the Amazon Product Advertising API. Images from Amazon PA API.
