China’s cyber road to philanthropy: a combination of hi-tech and social change (2)

As of 2018, Ant Forest has contributed to the carbon emission reduction of 2.83 million tons, or the weight of the combined annual carbon emission of over a million cars, as well as planting 55.5 million trees, covering an area of over 6,424 acres.

Gamified environmentalism and green development 

“We want to introduce our users to their own carbon footprint, but the concept is hard to understand. So, we came up with a more approachable idea that allows our users to grow a virtual tree on their mobile phone, and these online trees will then be planted in real life with our support,” explained Zu Wang, product manager of Ant Forest.

With such ideas currently undergoing gamification, living a low carbon lifestyle and owning an individual carbon account have now become a fun past-time for the Chinese public.

“Every morning when I wake up, I interact with my friends on Ant Forest, as doing so means that green energy points can be transferred to them to cultivate their own trees. Occasionally, the app will provide users with lucky cards, which can be exchanged for cash rewards to plant real trees,” said Guo.

Chris Anderson, a 27-year-old Danish student, who currently lives in Suzhou, noted that gamified carbon footprint tracking is a hit online among his Chinese friends, who now pay their bills online or take public transport to school, so that they can earn green energy points and plant trees. 

“I am also fascinated by the game. It seems that the combination of digital technologies and environmental protection has certainly caused a wave of social change in China, encouraging the public to promote sustainable development voluntarily,” said Anderson.

Ant Forest’s initial success has led to the emergence of more tree-growing apps, with some encouraging environmental awareness by planting trees with a small fee, while “panda guardian,” an online game developed by Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo, allows users to feed a digital pet panda to accumulate points to plant real bamboo.

“Digital technologies allow us to carry out good deeds in a virtual world, then bring change to the real one. Sustainability is not a difficult mission, everyone can get involved, and everyone can gain from it,” added Zu.