The contribution of Fintech to sustainable development in the digital age: Ant forest and land restoration in China

•UN decades on ecosystem restoration calls for effective and innovative ways of land restoration.•Ant Forest as a new land restoration approach facilitated by Fintech in China was studied.•The effect of Ant Forest on sustainable development goals in China were analyzed.•The Fintech facilitated restoration has the potential to be scaled up in the digital age.•Ant Forest platform needs to maintain its user group and attracts more new users. Land degradation is a global issue that affects the livelihood of billions of people worldwide. Various responses have emerged to achieve the land degradation neutrality target, including the UN one billion tree campaign and Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Ant Forest, a land restoration approach initiated by China's largest Fintech company Alibaba, has made substantial progress on land restoration in degraded areas in China, especially in desert areas. It represents a new model of transforming environmental protection intentions and activities of users into actual environmental benefits by planting trees. The lessons and implications of Ant Forest can contribute to ecosystem restoration globally. However, the effects and effectiveness of Ant Forest are not fully understood. Here we use the data from official reports from Alibaba’s ant financial, as well as remote sensing data, to examine how the Ant Forest contributes to land restoration and its socio-economic effects. We found that Ant Forest has many potential roles for achieving sustainable development goals, ranging from land restoration, carbon emission reduction, poverty reduction, human health improvement and many more. While its innovation has brought its international reputation at home and abroad, whether the project itself can sustain is still a question that needs to be concerned. The Fintech facilitated restoration has the potential to be scaled up, but it still needs to continue updating its platform, keep the intentions of the existed users and encouraging more new users to join in the effort.