Alibaba becomes official partner of Hangzhou Asian Games

The signing ceremony also saw the launch of the "public forest of the Hangzhou Asian Games" on Ant Forest, which was launched on the Alipay mobile app by Ant Financial Services Group in August 2016.

Ant Forest is designed to reduce carbon emissions by giving users points every time they walk, take public transport or do a variety of other low-carbon activities through their Alipay account.

Points can then be used to help plant and nurture a tree in a virtual forest on their cellphone; once the tree is large enough it can be converted into a real tree.

According to a news release during the signing ceremony, the official flagship store of the games was also launched on Tmall, an online shopping platform owned by Alibaba. People can buy more than 60 varieties of games-related products on the online shop.

To date, the organising committee has signed up seven official service partners.

The "public forest of the Hangzhou Asian Games" initiative is launched on Ant Forest, a scheme on the Alipay mobile app encouraging users to live a low-carbon lifestyle. [Photo provided to ehangzhou.gov.cn]