Games for Change : Exploring the Effects of the Game Climate Fresk at Schneider Electric and the Climate Engagement Potential for Employees

Sammanfattning: Climate change creates an urgency for action to be taken at government, corporate and individual level. Changing behaviours is a necessity to meet the global temperature goal of 2 °C increase, and companies have a significant role to play in this transformation. To change these behaviours, a change needs to happen in both attitudes and actions. Climate change education is one of many important methods to perform this transition. This study therefore aims to explore employee's perception of their ability to engage in their company's climate strategy and which development possibilities there are to increase their engagement. This is studied by looking at the effects of the game-based workshop, Climate Fresk, implemented in the Swedish sector of the global technical company Schneider Electric. Prior to collecting data, a pre research was conducted where background knowledge about Climate Fresk and Schneider was attained through observations of workshops and focus groups as well as an interview with the head of sustainability at Schneider. Data collection was thereafter made through 11 semi-constructed interviews with employees who had previously participated in Climate Fresk. The data given was processed through a thematic analysis to present three themes with eight sub themes, representing the results. These three themes visualizes employees' feelings, understandings and takeaways, as well as their perceived behavioural changes, attitude changes, hindrances and development suggestions for both Climate Fresk and involvement in Schneider’s climate strategy. The results show that employees have more understanding for climate change, feel more strengthened and more able to engage in Schneiders climate strategy after having participated in Climate Fresk. This is expressed both individually, but also collectively and with the support from role models and the positive climate change culture in Schneider. Still, some employees express credibility issues with Schneider due to high carbon-emitting activities. To make it easier for employees to engage in Schneiders climate strategy, development suggestions are made. Concretization of Schneiders goals for both employees and clients, a Schneider specific follow-up workshop and action accelerator programs both for collective climate change groups and individual aspiring climate role models within the company.