Hangzhou, China — Alibaba Cloud, a cloud computing company, is utilizing its (artificial intelligence) AI-driven cloud management solution Energy Expert to reduce the carbon footprint of the Asian Games ongoing until Oct. 8.

Alibaba Cloud, a key part of the Alibaba Group’s digital technology and intelligence framework, has also developed an app that empowers all Asian Games stakeholders, including athletes, staff, and journalists, to contribute to carbon reduction efforts.

“Reducing our carbon footprint is something we have to work on as an organization and as a technology company,” Jingren Zhou, CTO of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, said in a media briefing. “And as individuals, we have to take the time to overcome these environmental challenges and work together to achieve our goals.”

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Energy Expert was introduced in 2022 to assist Alibaba Cloud’s clients in measuring, analyzing, and managing their carbon emissions with automation. This Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) sustainability solution helps organizations identify the sources of carbon emissions, from operational activities to product manufacturing. The solution offers energy efficiency analytics and emission forecasts utilizing deep learning-based AI models hosted on Alibaba Cloud.

Energy Expert provides actionable insights and energy-saving recommendations as integral components of the solution. These recommendations include strategies like promoting the use of clean energy, reducing electricity consumption, and optimizing the entire supply chain, spanning from material sourcing to product shipping.

In its headquarters, Alibaba Cloud utilizes Energy Expert to enable it to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030, the pledge which was announced in 2021.

Eco-friendly Asian Games

In an effort to promote environmentally friendly practices at the Asian Games, Alibaba Cloud employed Energy Expert to assess the carbon footprint of the Hangzhou Asian Games mascots. The analysis revealed that one of the three mascots, Congcong, has a cradle-to-gate carbon footprint of 1.59 kg carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e), with emissions stemming from three primary sources: electricity consumption, packaging, and raw materials.

The app that allows participants to actively engage in making the Asian Games greener. Athletes, staff, and journalists can earn points within the app by choosing public transportation or recycling waste. In the Asian Games villages, strategically placed QR codes enable residents to record their low-carbon activities, such as opting for reusable bags instead of plastics or reducing food waste.

These recorded activities accumulate carbon points, which participants can redeem for limited-edition Asian Games-themed pins and eco-friendly products. To date, the app has garnered more than 310,000 visits, with participants actively involved in low-carbon activities across the Asian Games villages. Since the Asian Games villages opened on Sept. 16, these efforts have resulted in a reduction of over 7 tons of carbon emissions.