In 2019, Alipay Ant Forest was awarded(奖励) theUnited Nation's highest environmental honor – the "UN Champions of theEarth" award – for encouraging over half a billion people to take actionin their daily lives to live greener lifestyles and help protect theenvironment with digital(数码) technology.

    Ant Forest is an app-based game that is sweepingacross China. The users of the game get green energy points for choosinglow-carbon(低碳) activities like taking a bus or using less plastic. Once playershave gotten enough green energy, they can plant a virtual(虚拟的) tree in AntForest. For every tree planted in the virtual game, a real tree is planted byAnt Forest in China's countryside. Ant Forest says 100 million real trees havebeen planted so far, covering a total area of 933 square kilometers — almostthe size of 130,000 soccer fields.

    In order to make it possible for more than 500million users to watch their trees growing, Ant Forest works with GaGo Group tomonitor trees using satellites(卫星). Two satellites took pictures of the desertareas before and after the tree planting to show users how their everydayactions have made a difference.

    Alipay Ant Forest shows how technology can changeour world. Internet connects the virtual world with the real world. This hasbeen easily accepted by the Chinese youth. Alipay Ant Forest's popularity showsthat the public is ready to take action to protect our living environment. ManyChinese net users said that they were so proud that they had made acontributionto the greening of the world through online games.