Climate change policy is a challenging subject to teach to undergraduates as it requires knowledge of a complex physical system (our planet) combined with an understanding of our global social-political-economic structures, which engender puzzling, yet, predictable behavior by participants. Further complicating this learning environment are the personal and social implications of choosing to combat climate change versus allowing others to address the problem (i.e., free-riding). To simulate the complex decision environment for climate change policy making, a “public good game” classroom experiment is a useful activity that allows students to make decisions regarding the provision of a public good (climate mitigation) while observing how their behavior and the behavior of others results in benefits (or costs) that are shared by all. In this paper, six public good games are played by students in an undergraduate environmental economics course with different parameterizations in each game simulating different aspects of climate change negotiations that can help explain why some policies related to climate change succeed while others fail. Special considerations for face-to-face versus online implementation are explored.

“EconPort—Public Goods Experiment Teaching Module.” http://econport.org/content/teaching/modules/PublicGoods.html.

Feige, C., K.-M. Ehrhart, and J. Krämer. 2018. “Climate Negotiations in the Lab: A Threshold Public Goods Game with Heterogeneous Contributions Costs and Non-Binding Voting.” Environmental and Resource Economics 70(2):343–362. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10640-017-0123-x.

Holt, C.A., and S.K. Laury. 1997. “Classroom Games: Voluntary Provision of a Public Good.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 11(4):209–215. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.11.4.209.

IPCC. “The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.” About the IPCC. https://www.ipcc.ch/about/.

Lenton, T.M. 2011. “Early Warning of Climate Tipping Points.” Nature Climate Change 1(4):201–209. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1143.

Leuthold, J.H. 1993. “A Free Rider Experiment for the Large Class.”

Lombardi, D., and G.M. Sinatra. 2013. “Emotions about Teaching about Human-Induced Climate Change.” International Journal of Science Education 35(1):167–191. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2012.738372.

Meya, J.N., and K. Eisenack. 2018. “Effectiveness of Gaming for Communicating and Teaching Climate Change.” Climatic Change 149(3–4):319–333. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-018-2254-7.

NASA. 2020. “Global Climate Change—Vital Signs of the Planet.” Governmental. NASA Climate Change. https://climate.nasa.gov/.

Swarthout, J.T. “Public Goods Experiment.” Examples. https://serc.carleton.edu/econ/experiments/examples/36647.html.

Trollip, H., Torres Gunfaus, M. 2015. “Implementing Climate Change Mitigation: A Journey into the Unknown.” Working paper Issue no. 39, MAPS. http://www.mapsprogramme.org/wp-content/uploads/Paper_Implementing-climate-change-mitigation-a-journey-into-the-unknown-1.pdf.