The ‘Climate and Society’ Game: People’s different vulnerabilities to climate change and their different abilities to be change-makers

The 'Climate and Society' game uses fictional scenarios in Ethiopia, India, and Latin America to simulate how factors such as gender, age, and socio-economic status create inequities in climate risk and resilience. Through a two-round role-play involving consultations and the review of adaptation plans, participants 'walk in other people's shoes' to identify barriers to inclusive participation. The guide emphasizes that climate investments must be designed specifically to empower marginalized groups and ensure equitable benefits, as a 'one size fits all' approach fails to accommodate diverse needs.

• The game is structured around fictional neighbourhoods in Ethiopia, India, and Ecuador/Latin America to demonstrate that while people may face the same climate hazard, their actual impact varies based on vulnerability and adaptive capacity.
• Inequalities stemming from sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, education, ethnicity, caste, class, age, geographical origin, and beliefs can exclude specific groups from climate adaptation investments and low-carbon transitions.
• Inclusive climate consultation requires modifying the mechanism, personnel, location, and timing of engagement to overcome barriers such as restricted spatial mobility for women or physical constraints for disabled persons.
• To ensure equitable benefits from climate adaptation interventions, designers must account for the fact that some marginalized groups are more severely affected by hazards and therefore require more effort and attention to ensure they are not left worse off.

APA

Climate and Development Knowledge Network (2020). The ‘Climate and Society’ Game: People’s different vulnerabilities to climate change and their different abilities to be change-makers. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Facilitators-instructions-for-the-climate-role-play-game-Climate-and-Society-Dec-2020-update.pdf

Chicago

Climate and Development Knowledge Network. The ‘Climate and Society’ Game: People’s different vulnerabilities to climate change and their different abilities to be change-makers. 2020. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Facilitators-instructions-for-the-climate-role-play-game-Climate-and-Society-Dec-2020-update.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |title=The ‘Climate and Society’ Game: People’s different vulnerabilities to climate change and their different abilities to be change-makers |date=December 2020 |url=https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Facilitators-instructions-for-the-climate-role-play-game-Climate-and-Society-Dec-2020-update.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climateanddevelopmentknowledgenetwork2020climate, author = {{Climate and Development Knowledge Network}}, title = {{The ‘Climate and Society’ Game: People’s different vulnerabilities to climate change and their different abilities to be change-makers}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2020}, month = dec, url = {https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Facilitators-instructions-for-the-climate-role-play-game-Climate-and-Society-Dec-2020-update.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }