Students Experience Climate Negotiations in Simulation-Based Role-play Exercise

By Ellie Johnston
February 22, 2012

Providing a look at the reactions and lessons learned after participating in the World Climate Exercise, the video below shares new insights into the experiences of World Climate participants.

Professor Juliette Rooney-Varga’s students entered class a few weeks ago, unsure of what to expect from the day’s class. They had been told they were going to take part in negotiating a new climate treaty that week—a daunting task, even for the world’s political leaders.

The students were participating in the World Climate Exercise, a role-playing game developed by the team here at [Climate Interactive]( “Climate Interactive”) to allow participants to experience the dynamics that negotiators at the climate change negotiations face and explore the ways diverse groups can find ways forward together. Unlike other types of teaching tools, the World Climate Exercise immerses participants in an interactive simulation that involves playing different negotiating roles from a member of a small island nation to the EU. As part of UMass Lowell’s Climate Change Initiative the exercise and the reactions of the students were captured in the video below.