The Donostia United Nations Climate Summit is an original role playing activity in which participants will experiment the difficulties to reach an agreement in international climate summits. The game is designed (using game theory concepts) as a small-scale representation of the problems that arise during these international negotiations, which are attended by representatives of different countries with their own, highly different situations and vested interests. Each player will have to take the role of one country or region and make decisions about his/her own strategies taking into account budgetary restrictions and political considerations. As in other role-play simulations, participants receive briefings to help them understand the interests and objectives of the nations they represent. They then negotiate with one another to agree on commitments for emission reductions from the present through 2050, in a first stage, and then through 2100.
The Donostia United Nations Climate Summit
The objectives that we want to achieve with the game are the following:
– experience the process of an international climate summit,
– be familiar with a problem of public good provision,
– acquire negotiation skills that can be applied to other areas of professional and personal life,
– foster teamwork, and
– have fun
Thus, after taking part in the game, participants will understand better how difficult is to reach an international agreement on climate change and which are the key factors that explain this difficulty. They will have a wider perspective about how budgetary restrictions and the consideration of the distribution of costs and benefits affect political negotiations.
