Codo Advisory offers Climate Fresk (Climate Education for Everyone) and Biodiversity Collage (Biodiversity Education for Everyone) as corporate sustainability education programs. These workshops are often used by our clients to educate new employees and executives as a first step toward making environmental issues a personal matter. From 2023, we have decided to hold open workshops on an irregular basis so that people can easily experience them. This article aims to give you an overview of these insightful workshops!
What is Climate Fresk and Biodiversity Collage?
“Climate Fresk” and “Biodiversity Collage” are both card-game based workshops.
Developed in France in 2015, this climate change education workshop has been used by more than 1 million participants in more than 50 countries around the world. Using a card game format, it was designed based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, and is designed to help participants understand how climate change works through a hands-on experience.
Like Climate Fresk, this French workshop uses cards to teach the connections between biodiversity and the causes and consequences of its collapse. This workshop is based on the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) report.
The run of the open workshops
We have held 3 open workshops in 2023.Each workshop was attended by people from various industries, including the consulting industry, auto parts industry, education industry, insurance industry, transportation and energy industry, and local government.
After an initial ice-breaking, a brief explanation of the rules is conducted by the facilitator.
| Rules of Climate Fresk/Biodiversity Collage ・We use about 40 cards depicting events related to climate change or biodiversity ・There are 5 steps, and about 6-8 cards are distributed at each session. ・Participants work in teams to line up the distributed cards in a cause/effect relationship. ※ Biodiversity Collage will begin with an ecosystem game to deepen participants’ understanding of ecosystems. |
One of the key points of these games is discussion and cooperation among all team members. Although both Climate Fresk and Biodiversity Collage have examples of how to arrange the cards, reaching the correct answer is not the goal of the workshop. Rather, as the names Fresk and Collage suggest, the goal is for everyone to create their own piece of art by cooperating together. By going through the process of finding the connections among the cards in cooperation with team members, we believe that participants will be able to understand the global-scale issues of climate change and biodiversity collapse and the role they can play.
Now, let’s have a look at the workshop. Since it was the first time everyone met, they were a bit shy… but everyone finished arranging the first cards without any problems!
After each step, a debriefing is held. All participants will reconfirm the connections between the cards laid out. The facilitator will also explain key points so that participants can acquire a solid knowledge of climate change and biodiversity.
Toward the end of the game, you can feel the team’s unity growing. Discussions become more active, and the steady stream of cards is a sight to behold.
Finally, all the cards are lined up! After 90 minutes of card games, it is time for a creative break. After the cards are lined up, we decorate the Fresk / Collage and come up with an original. The individual personalities of each player are now highlighted.
We are always looking forward to the titles that the participants come up with!
Unique works of art are created one after another.
At the end of the session, participants share their feelings and impressions of the card game and think about future actions. The participants feel the major issues of climate change and biodiversity collapse, which are intricately intertwined, and the importance of taking countermeasures. They all write down their action plans assiduously, reflecting on what they can and want to do
| Examples of Action Ideas >> for Climate Fresk Reduction of mail re-delivery, eco education to foster awareness, green procurement, etc. >> for Biodiversity Collage Promotion of local production for local consumption, development of non-thermal production processes, participation in various initiatives, etc. ※ For internal corporate training, we can ask each team to explore ideas in depth or discuss ideas that correspond to the company’s sustainability goals. |
Three hours have passed. It seems like a long time, but it goes by very fast!
When time allows, we have time for exchanges between the participants about their company’s sustainability initiatives and the challenges they face: What your company may take for granted is often new to other companies! Cross-industry exchange is one of the best parts of an open workshop, so please take advantage of this networking opportunity when you attend!
Voices from our participants
Each workshop is often described as “challenging,” “interesting,” and making people “realize the importance of sustainability initiatives”. Here are some real comments from those who have attended our workshops.
We were able to think and verbalize together with the participants the “causes” of the problems caused by climate change and biodiversity loss, which helped us understand more deeply why they happened. Through the workshop, I renewed my determination to do what I can to protect the earth and society. First, I will try to organize a workshop to understand climate change in my own department.
Ms. Yamaguchi, Carbon Neutrality Promotion Department, Aisan Industry Co. Ltd. （attended Climate Fresk and Biodiversity Collage)
Biodiversity tends to seem somewhat abstract, but through the card game, I was able to put my thoughts into words and discuss them with everyone, which made me much more familiar with the concept. I would like to make use of this experience in thinking about the diffusion of biodiversity into society.
Mr. Kobayashi, Director, Environmental Management Department, Fukuoka City Environmental Bureau (attended Biodiversity Collage)
I found the game to be a fun and team-oriented way to learn about the causal relationship between climate change and our lives, and the advanced content based on the IPCC report made it a rewarding experience for adults as well.
Machine Industry Representative (attended Climate Fresk)
Upcoming Open Workshops
Codo Advisory holds open workshops on an irregular basis. If you are interested, please have a look at the next scheduled sessions by clicking the button below:
※ We don’t have sessions planned in English at the moment. Please contact us if you wish to attend a session in English.