The BigPay and APE Partnership

Back in July 2021, BigPay joined the ‘Every Action Counts’ coalition that connects experts to share best practices on how to address nature conservation and climate change with some of the world’s leading digital financial platforms.

Joining the ‘Every Action Counts’ coalition will allow us to harness the power of greener consumer behaviours that will enhance climate efforts in Malaysia.

Today, we want to announce one of the many initiatives the team here at BigPay are committed to taking over the next few years to make this a reality.

We have partnered with Animal Projects & Environmental Education (APE Malaysia) as one of our many steps to helping improve sustainability around climate change.

Climate change is happening fast and if we do not do something about it as a collective, we will sooner or later see our amazing Mother Earth disappear.

From the 1st of November to the 30th of November, we will donate one new tree to be planted on behalf of the first 1,000 users that make their water bill payment via BigPay.

The contributing BigPay users will receive a photo, as well as an e-certificate with the GPS coordinate where each of their trees are planted in the Lower Kinabatangan region in Sabah.

Image Taken From APE Malaysia

Why Are We Doing This?

As we continue our journey to not only drive financial inclusion and financial literacy in Malaysia, we also want to make sure that we are doing that in an environmentally sustainable way.

We want to not only lend a hand in improving sustainability as a company but to give that power back to all our users. We want to empower them to make their own difference to climate change while they spend with BigPay.

On the 31st of October, the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) is happening in the United Kingdom. This event is being regarded as a crucial step to set worldwide emission targets to slow global warming.

COP26 is a worldwide summit run by the United Nations where countries from all over the world come together to reach an agreement on how to tackle climate change together.

Some of the goals of COP26 are:

• To secure global net zero by mid-century and keep 1.5 degrees within reach

• To adapt and protect communities and natural habitats

And some of the ways to do that is by curtailing deforestation and by protecting & restoring ecosystems.

Reforestation through tree planting has become a cornerstone of climate mitigation as trees help to absorb significant amounts of planet-warming greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, in turn offsetting carbon emissions, as well as preserving biodiversity within the ecosystem.

Our main pillars of this partnership is to focus on:

1. Reforestation

2. Wildlife Conservation

3. Local Community & Engagement

This is why partnering with APE Malaysia was extremely important to us as they are at the helm of bringing back the Bornean rainforests to its prime.

Who is APE?

APE Malaysia is an accredited social enterprise that focuses on conservation as a means to enable the wider change towards a sustainable future. They have over 14 years of experience in replanting activities.

They’ve planted over 52,000 trees already and they aim to benefit not just the environment but the wildlife, animals as well as their own community.

APE’s vision is to build worldwide awareness and to also inspire positive change in the way people interact with the environment.

Image Taken From APE Malaysia

They not only focus on the replanting of trees but also on the habitat that it provides to our local Bornean animals.

Besides providing these beautiful animals with a much safer home, APE Malaysia also supports the local communities thereby providing them with jobs and support.

It’s a loving and supportive group of people in the villages and they are just doing what they love - which is caring for the environment while supporting each other.

Image Taken From APE Malaysia

Our team here at BigPay feels extremely humbled and proud to be able to partner with APE Malaysia while we both fight against climate change.

While also ensuring that our orangutans and other amazing wildlife have their habitats secured and thriving.

Image Taken From APE Malaysia

How Does Planting Trees Help With Climate Change?

According to The Guardian, planting billions of trees across the world is one of the biggest and cheapest ways of taking CO2 out of the atmosphere so that we can tackle climate change.

The increase of CO2 emissions is the biggest culprit of climate change and with the planting of trees, we can easily try to control global warming.

As trees grow, they absorb and store carbon dioxide emissions that are driving our temperatures up across the globe.

It is a huge undertaking as according to a scientific study if we plant more than a half trillion trees, we could capture about 205 gigatons of carbon, which reduces atmospheric carbon by about 25%. Which then negates about half of all carbon emitted by humans since 1960.

Half a trillion trees is a lot and will take us hundreds of years to do that, but it’s a start. What APE is also focusing on doing is not just replanting the trees but also reducing deforestation so that we don’t continue making things worse.

A majority of the reforestation sites that APE Malaysia is working on are ex-logging sites, former log dumping sites or former agricultural lands that have been converted into reforestation sites.

They also focus on not just reforestation, but also on the education of the current generation so that they can take this initiative forward as well.

Image of APE Malaysia’s reforestation sites

Interested in Joining Us? Here’s How!

We are dedicated to being a partner in pushing the efforts of improving climate change for the long run. As a company, we are focused not only on advocating and donating to the cause but to also allow for our users to be a part of this too.

As mentioned, from the 1st to the 30th of November, the BigPay team will plant a tree in your name if you pay for your water bill via the BigPay app. (Subject to the first 1,000 BigPay users)

After that, you will also receive a photo as well as an e-certificate with the GPS coordinates of your new little sapling!

To do that, just launch your BigPay app and pay for your water bill to be in the running. We are so excited to launch this partnership and we hope that you will join forces with us to help improve Mother Earth together.