Pokémon Go has partnered with Ecosia to host a new community day event that allows players to plant trees while playing the game.
Ecosia has pledged to plant a tree for every player who joins Pokémon Go on April 23 – the game’s next community day – and walks at least 5 kilometers. Ecosia has committed to planting up to 100,000 trees per month as part of the agreement, which will take place on every community day until the end of July.
To participate, you do not need to spend time catching pokémon. The event also includes Niantic’s other augmented reality mobile games, Pikmin Bloom and Ingress, which were developed by the same company as Pokémon Go.
Ecosia, a self-styled “green search engine”, has made a name for itself since it launched in 2009 by promising to donate a share of its profits to global reforestation projects. It says the trees planted as part of this event will be placed in reforestation and biodiversity hotspots.
“Partnering with world-leading companies like Niantic enables us to continue to fund reforestation and biodiversity projects around the world to support communities and invest in our planet for the future.”
“We’re delighted to provide a simple way for Niantic’s millions of players to be climate active as they come together for Community Days over the next few months, said Ruby Au, Tree Planting Projects Network and Impact Officer at Ecosia
Community days have recently become a hot topic in the Pokémon Go community. Niantic angered some players by returning the monthly events to their pre-pandemic, outdoor formats. They were modified in early 2020 to run for six hours, instead of three, in an effort to encourage social distancing and prevent unnecessary mixing between players.
That’s been reversed for this upcoming April community day. The main event will run for three hours from 2pm to 5pm local time.
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