Politicians and a lot of companies are losing precious time in the struggle to protect the climate.

Internet users can now go ahead and show them what a climate-friendly business strategy would look like.

The online game CEO2 launched by financial service provider Allianz and environmental organization WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) allows players to slip into the role of a chief executive of a chemical, automobile, utility or finance company.

In this role, you have to discover the best business strategies to reduce carbon, reduce risks and increase the long-term profitability of your company.

CEO2 then shows the possible impacts of your business decisions over the next 20 years. Your success is measured against the company’s stock price and carbon emissions.

According to the Allianz-WWF RECIPE report on energy and climate policy, European countries and companies and other early movers could profit from decisive climate protection. But with the next round of UN-climate negotiations uncertain, many politicians and businesses seem hesitant.

The window of opportunity for ambitious CO2 reductions, however, is closing fast. We have to act by 2020 to make an impact by 2050 and limit the global temperature increase to 2 degrees Celsius!

The transformation of the energy sector alone requires annual investments of 400 to 1,000 billion dollars by 2030. Most of this will have to be provided by the financial markets and industry, but it can be done in a profitable way that supports green growth.

This is why Allianz and WWF have developed the CEO2 game. We want to show in a playful way how to avoid lock-in to CO2-heavy technologies while still providing sustainable growth and jobs.

The game is available on www.ceo2-game.com for free. It has been developed and implemented by the Berlin communications agency LGM Interactive.