Title: Ant Forest - China's low-carbon consumption practices driven by a community currency mechanism

Authors: Scott Y. Lin; Jiawei Zeng

Addresses: Graduate Institute of Development Studies, National Chengchi University, No. 64, Sec. 2, Zhinan Rd., Wenshan District, Taipei City, 11605, Taiwan ' E.SUN Bank (China) Co., Ltd., Guangzhou Branch, No. 4101-4106, Central Tower, No. 5 Xiancun Road, Tianhe District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, China

Abstract: Ant Forest (mayi senlin, 螞蟻森林) is a Chinese low-carbon consumption project initiated in the mid-2010s under China's personal carbon trading scheme. Based on its internal logic, this project's operation can be associated with a green movement within community currencies (CCs). This study investigates how Ant Forest (a type of CC mechanism) participates in, integrates, and even innovate the mechanism of environmental governance in China. From the CC perspective of a 'new economics' centred on low carbon consumption, a multi-criteria qualitative evaluation tool with a set of indicators is adapted for the case analysis. The results show that the mechanism design of Ant Forest can develop a local circular economy, cultivate environmental awareness among citizens, build a low-carbon consumption community, create community interaction and pool social capital. The case of Ant Forest shows a 'bottom-up' structure which enables public participation in China's environmental governance.

Keywords: Ant Forest; community currency; personal carbon trading; PCT; low-carbon consumption; Chinese environmental governance; Alibaba; China.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESD.2023.132084

International Journal of Environment and Sustainable Development, 2023 Vol.22 No.3, pp.269 - 291

Accepted: 04 Jan 2022
Published online: 11 Jul 2023 *

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