Liu Qin (1st L on stage), director of social good department of Ant Financial, speaks at the Climate Sustainability Working Group (CSWG) meeting of G20 2019 held in Nagano, Japan, April 16, 2019. China's Alipay, a leading digital technology corporation and payment platform, on Tuesday urged the international community to pursue a greener lifestyle at the CSWG meeting of G20 countries by presenting how digital technology help fight against climate change. As the only philanthropic project from China invited to the second CSWG meeting of G20 2019, Ant Forest, a green initiative piloted by digital technologies of Alipay, shared its practices and exploration in using digital technologies to spur individuals to make contributions to the fight against climate change. (Xinhua/Hua Yi)

NAGANO, Japan, April 16 (Xinhua) -- China's Alipay, a leading digital technology corporation and payment platform, on Tuesday urged the international community to pursue a greener lifestyle at a working group meeting of the Group of 20 (G20) countries by presenting how digital technology help fight against climate change.

As the only philanthropic project from China invited to the second Climate Sustainability Working Group (CSWG) meeting of G20 2019, Ant Forest, a green initiative piloted by digital technologies of Alipay, shared its practices and exploration in using digital technologies to spur individuals to make contributions to the fight against climate change

"We believe that many people have good intentions to protect our planet as they want to do what they can for a greener future. We believe that innovative technology can help turn these good intentions into tangible results," said Liu Qin, director of social good department of Ant Financial, at the CSWG meeting held in Nagano, Japan from April 15 to 17.

Delegates from G20 countries governments, international organizations, think tanks, enterprises and non-governmental organizations gathered at the meeting to discuss solutions to combat climate change.

As an innovative model for environmental protection from China, Ant Forest grabbed the attention of the G20 audiences with its various attractions and business patterns on mobile phone applications which motivate average people to live a greener life.

Launched in August 2016 on the digital payment tool of Alipay application, Ant Forest encourages individual users to conduct low-carbon activities in their daily lives, such as paying utility bills online, walking to work instead of driving, and refusing disposable chopsticks when ordering food online.

The environmentally conscious behavior is recorded and converted into virtual "green energy" points in the users' mobile phones, according to the company, who will then grow real trees for users with high green energy points and give them virtual certificates for tree planting.

According to Liu, over 400 million Chinese people have joined Ant Forest's initiative by the end of 2018.

"This contributes to the fight against climate change by mobilizing the enthusiasm of over 400 million people in the pursuit of a greener lifestyle," Liu said.

The concerted efforts have resulted in over 55.5 million trees planted in China, reducing carbon emission by over 3 million tons, according to Liu.

"We are glad to see Alipay's digital technologies applied in our Ant Forest project to help create a greener world and we'll continue to explore more innovative ways to improve user experience," Liu said at the CSWG meeting.

By enabling average person living in China to engage in the fight against climate change, Ant Forest has also created a large platform for individuals to record their carbon footprint in its carbon-emission reduction campaign.