Now Alipay and its partners have 1.2 billion users worldwide and more people and more partners are encouraged to join in. 

UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen, who gave out the awards, was impressed by Ant Forest's achievements.

"It's very innovative. It's big. It is managed to mobilize millions of people to get an understanding of the environment and what they can do by contributing a small amount of resources," she told Xinhua. "So having people engage in a personal way is very powerful."

She said she was pleased with the progress in China and in many other countries. "I think that in China there's a strong commitment to this through ecological civilization, through a commitment to making the next century one of environmental integrity. And we obviously want everyone to step up on this field, and so that's why we have been very, very pleased to see this year Ant Forest get the 'Champions of the Earth' award."

The private sector has an important role to play. The resources needed to make the Earth sustainable, produce renewable energy and restore degraded ecosystems cannot come from the taxpayers alone, they have to come from the leaders of the private sector, said Andersen.

"Champions of the Earth" is the UN flagship global environmental awards. They were established in 2005 to celebrate outstanding figures from the public and private sectors and from civil society whose actions have had a transformative, positive impact on the environment. 

The awards recognize laureates in the four categories of Entrepreneurial Vision, Inspiration and Action, Policy Leadership, and Science and Innovation.

"Champions of the Earth" awards have previously recognized Chinese trailblazers in environmental action. In 2018, the Zhejiang Green Rural Revival Program won the award for "Inspiration and Action" for its work to regenerate polluted waterways and damaged lands. In 2017, the Saihanba Afforestation Community was recognized in the same category for transforming degraded land on the southern edge of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region into a lush paradise.