Sony’s forthcoming PlayStation 5 will be equipped with a more energy-efficient standby mode, as part of a wider effort by the gaming industry to address climate change. The Japanese firm said its next gaming console will allow players to suspend gameplay with much lower power consumption than the current PlayStation 4. According to a 2014 report by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the PS4 uses 8.5W in standby mode, but Sony estimates its new hardware could consume as little as 0.5W. However, it appears that users will have to manually switch the energy-saving option on, rather than it being active by default. “If just one million users enable this feature, it would save equivalent to the average electricity use of 1,000 US homes,” said Jim Ryan, PlayStation president and chief executive. The company joined 20 other names in gaming at a UN Climate Summit on Monday, where they formally committed to harness the power of their platforms to take action in response to climate change. Together the industry has agreed to a 30 million tonne reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030, with improvements to energy management, packaging, and device recycling. Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play…