The SGA Standard is open-access and available for use by the entire games industry.
When viewing it, however, please remember that it is a living standard and involves significant iteration and improvement as best practices evolve and consensus between SGA members is achieved.
It also focuses on the Environmental impact component of ESG disclosures, as SGA members believe these to be the most complex, however in time the Standard will also include Social and Governance elements that are required under the ESRS.
The SGA Standard is also very much a work in progress which started mid-2024. The first version will be published at end of August 2025.
To meet the high legal and societal expectations as well as the practical operational requirements of game companies and related service providers, the non-profit cooperative SGA develops and iteratively updates the Standard with input from its members, under the supervision of the SGA Board, Advisory Board, and its research and policy partners.
This process is founded on international and cross-sectoral collaboration, supported by an expanding global network of stakeholders committed to unlocking the potential of the games industry to lead in sustainability, with a particular focus on decarbonization.
The current Standard draft has the Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions component, as these are some of the most straightforward GHG emissions to measure and reduce, and with the widest agreement around methodology.
The live version of the Standard is accessible as a Google doc, however, for those who wish to avoid or are unable to access Google services, with each major member-approved update to the Standard we will publish a downloadable PDF version with the latest member-approved additions to the Standard.
The more complex and challenging Scope 3 component is under development at the moment.
Alongside the Standard document itself, the SGA is producing a series of tools such as spreadsheets, validated common emissions factors specifically applicable to the games industry, and ESG strategy guidance such as workshops for the games industry.
To help game studios apply the SGA Standard and meet their EU CSRD/ESRS reporting obligations, we are developing data input spreadsheets to substantially simplify the process of adhering to the standard.
As work progresses on the standard the data input sheets will also be updated to reflect the best approaches identified and outlined in the standard by SGA members.
To test the worksheets, select “File>Make a copy” to create an editable version to input your own organisational data in.
The SGA Standard methodology for Scope 3 Category 7 employee commuting aims to improve granularity over the baseline GHG Protocol “distance-based method” for physical commuting, to support mode shift policy developments, and also adds new guidance for digital device energy consumption and emissions. It provides three options for increasing the comprehensiveness of WFH digital device energy consumption and (location-based) GHG emissions. It is to apply to all WFH device energy consumption for any work done “at home” as well as in other remote workplaces chosen by the employee (coffee shops, coworking spaces, etc.).
The SGA Standard methodology for Scope 3 Category 11 “Use of sold products (Mobile)” aims to improve the baseline GHG Protocol “direct use-phase emissions from products that directly consume energy” for games that are played on mobile devices. The standard aims to support energy efficiency initiatives, enable the validation of before-and-after interventions of game software energy intensity, and support improved activity-level data collection and transparency.
