Nine digital finance platforms funded 750 million trees, but survival is unclear

The platforms helped consumers pay for tree planting, yet evidence of long-term survival and carbon storage remains vague.

Editorial illustration — not from the study.

The study examines the tree-planting finance model associated with Alibaba’s Ant Forest and eight later versions developed by other financial technology companies. These platforms aim to encourage retail consumers to fund tree planting for forest restoration and related climate, biodiversity and livelihood goals.

The researchers find that the platforms produced a large reported environmental output: financing the planting of more than 750 million trees in total. However, they argue that the platforms are also driven by efforts to grow users and revenue, and that the available evidence does not clearly establish the trees’ survival or carbon storage.

What the platforms funded

The researchers studied nine financial technology platforms: Alibaba’s Ant Forest and eight later variations of its consumer-funded tree-planting model. Together, the platforms financed the planting of more than 750 million trees. The study describes this as a significant environmental output, but says evidence of tree survival and carbon sequestration—the removal and storage of carbon dioxide—remains vague. It also finds that the platforms are fundamentally shaped by efforts to develop the platforms, increase users and generate revenue, rather than by environmental concern alone.

Why tree numbers are not enough

The findings show how digital finance platforms can mobilize retail consumers to fund tree planting at a large reported scale. They also highlight why the number of trees planted is not, by itself, evidence of forest restoration or climate benefits: those outcomes depend on whether the trees survive and how much carbon they store. The study therefore questions whether these platforms address the wider problems facing green finance, or mainly redirect financial activity through growing technology companies.

Evidence and caveats

This is an analysis of nine tree-planting financial technology platforms using a “platform ecologies” framework, which examines how the platforms, their users and their financial and environmental aims interact. The abstract does not provide survival rates, carbon-sequestration figures or a detailed account of how those outcomes were independently measured. Its conclusions about environmental impact are therefore limited by the vague evidence available on what happened after the trees were planted.

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