Alibaba and United Nations (UN) have partnered to raise awareness of the importance of environmental protection for World Environment Day, the UN’s annual campaign held on the 5th of June, reported Alibaba’s news outlet Alizila.
In 1974, the UN has used World Environment Day to promote actions that protect the planet’s ecosystems and natural resources. This year, China was the host country to promote the reduction of environmental footprint.
Alibaba and the UN Environment Program worked to engage the 721 million monthly active users on the Hangzhou, China-based company’s shopping platforms and make it easy for them to participate in activities such as recycling and tree-planting. Shoppers can simply search for “green” in any Alibaba app – including Taobao, Tmall, Alipay and Freshippo – and find suggestions on how to do their part.
Alibaba say that environmental issues are an integral part of the company operates. They say that all sustainability initiatives are connected to their business practices.
What is Alibaba doing to protect the environment?
Alibaba points to initiatives such as data centres run by Alibaba Cloud that use water-cooling systems to save energy and reduce carbon emissions or rely on renewable energy for their operations.
Alibaba’s logistics arms, Cainiao’s emphasis on “green logistics,” meanwhile, covers everything from recycled packaging material to warehouses powered by solar panels.
There’s also Ant Forest, a mini-program within the Alipay app that rewards users for environmentally friendly behaviour, such as foregoing paper bills or choosing public transportation. Points earned on Ant Forest can be cashed in to have trees planted in areas of China that the country is actively working to reforest.
