With Worlds 2023 barreling toward the Swiss stage, the coming weeks promise to be full of historic rivalries, unique KPop performances, and the best League of Legends players the world has to offer. And this year, Worlds also brings something new: a platform for sustainability.
Sustainability is an incredibly important topic for players, for Riot, and for the entire world. As a company, we are making our commitments to sustainability abundantly clear as we work to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and transition our offices to renewable energy.
“We’re making these commitments as a company because we want to do right by players, Rioters, and the communities we support around the world,” said Jeffrey Burrell, Head of Social Impact at Riot Games. “We want to build a sustainable company that reduces our carbon footprint and adds to our own longevity so we can keep creating worthwhile experiences both in and out of the game for current and future generations of players.”
While Maokai is leaving plenty of roots in the jungle these Worlds, players will also be able to put down some real-world (and friendlier) roots. For every 100 Worlds 2023 in-game missions in the Worlds Event Pass completed by players, the Riot Games Social Impact Fund is contributing $1, up to $1M, to the Eden Reforestation Project which will help with the organization’s efforts to restore the Chimanimani landscape in Mozambique.
We are also working with Amazon Web Services (AWS), to highlight the importance of expanding access to clean drinking water and sanitation to people around the globe through a new campaign during Worlds 2023 called “Take the Drake for Water’s Sake.” Every time an Ocean Drake is secured during the competition, we’ll bring awareness to the global water crisis and efforts to solve it. At the end of Worlds 2023, AWS will be donating funds raised to Water.org to help empower 70,000 people in poverty with lasting access to safe water or sanitation.
“At AWS, we know that water is a precious resource and we are proud to collaborate with Riot to make a meaningful difference for thousands of lives with lasting access to safe water,” said Dan Carpenter, Director of the AWS Games organization at AWS. “This program builds on AWS’s ongoing efforts to ensure water access for people living in poverty across the globe, as well as our investments in water replenishment projects in the communities where we operate.”
In addition to securing Drakes, AWS is also our esports Remote Broadcast Center partner. These facilities are waypoints where the team produces international events like Worlds in tons of different languages for esports fans around the globe and were designed to run on 100% renewable energy from the moment they opened. Dublin’s Remote Broadcast Center powered by AWS has already received its ISO certification which shows how it meets an internationally recognized environmental standard.
Worlds 2023 is another step in our push towards making Riot a wholly sustainable company for the future. There will always be more work to be done in this crucial mission and we will continue to examine how we operate as a company, find creative ways we can work with partners who share this vision, and increase the ways we work directly with players to make an impact on the world around us.
To learn more about our efforts check out our sustainability page.