Miljö- och klimatpåverkan från E-Sport i Counter Strike

Sammanfattning: Competitive gaming, commonly known as E-sports, have become widely popular the past few years. Simultaneously the interest to watch these players compete has become apparent, not least through the viewing of the events that draw the attention of millions of people. However what is still often overlooked is the environmental impact which these events contribute to. Within the field of environmental research, E-sports is a frugally studied domain. This study therefore aims to create a foundation for calculating the environmental and climate impact from an E-sports event, specifically in regard to CS:GO. The guidelines for this calculation are based on the LCA methodology. The main question for this paper therefore reads: How can 1) system function, 2) functional unit and 3) system boundaries be chosen in order to calculate the environmental and climate impact from PGL Major Stockholm 2021? In order to find out how to answer this question, two people with expertise within the field were interviewed. The analysis of the results from the interviews showed that exposure was the primary function of several different scenarios of the system. For that reason the system function was decided as audience capacity. The functional unit was defined as Holding one 13-day event in CS:GO. The majority of what occurs within the arena was included in the system boundaries along with flights, electricity consumption and water consumption from the hotels. To facilitate further calculations of the categories included in the system boundaries we also presented estimations of environmental and climate impact. These were on flights, transportation to and from the event, and gaming computers.Through the interviews we gained great insight regarding the organizing of smaller events, specifically Svenska Elitserien CS:GO. This insight could help close the existing knowledge gap surrounding the environmental impact of E-sports as it creates a stepping stone for future research.