Technologies

Sony’s Horizon Forbidden West Tree-Planting Program Feels Like a Publicity Stunt

Commentary: Play a game. Plant a tree. Save the planet? Not so fast.

Do you want to help heal the Earth’s forests from the comfort of your home? For $69.99 you can do just that! At least, that appears to be the promise of Sony’s Play and Plant program, announced on Tuesday.

The program sees the electronics and video game giant partner with the Arbor Day Foundation, a tree-planting non-profit, to plant 288,000 trees across three reforestation projects in the United States. The catch is real-world trees will only be planted once a player gets through the tutorial in Horizon: Forbidden West and unlocks a specific in-game trophy.

The program received a good deal of press coverage from major video games websites with one outlet suggesting the program allows you to “save the real Earth while you save the virtual one.” Another suggested players have “the chance to do tangible good for the Earth.” Comments have been largely positive, too, with many lauding Sony’s initiative.

“Bout to go so hard in this game in the name of climate restoration,” one tweeter said.

But a brief glance beyond the headlines reveals this is video games greenwashing at its worst.

Reforestation is an admirable goal and the Arbor Day Foundation, which claims to have planted 500 million trees in its 50-year history, is no slouch when it comes to getting seedlings in the ground. But Sony’s program gives the false impression that buying a full-priced AAA video game is the way to help fix the planet and helps cast the company’s environmental actions in a positive light. It equates purchasing Horizon with doing good for the planet — such a simplification is grating and when you weigh this against Sony’s corporate environmental impact, the trophy-for-trees idea seems almost ludicrous.

“It’s a very common, and very effective strategy for companies to direct our focus and attention onto end users and consumers to distract us from the lack of effort from corporations,” notes Ben Abraham, a sustainability researcher and consultant who has been analyzing the carbon footprint of the video game industry.

Sony has committed to a “zero environmental footprint” goal by 2050, but is still emitting almost 1.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel power alone, according to its 2021 sustainability report. The vast majority of this coming from energy used at Sony sites across the world.

The report also details how much carbon dioxide is emitted as a result of consumers using Sony products, like TVs and game consoles. In 2020, these emissions were 19% higher than the year prior — and the highest they’ve been since 2016.

This was, the company notes, due to an increase in average TV screen size and “strong sales of the newly released PlayStation 5.” The PS5 is one of the most energy-intense consoles ever built, which means simply playing Horizon: Forbidden West long enough to get the necessary trophy is actually generating carbon dioxide in the short-term.

Let’s do some quick, back-of-the-napkin math: Unlocking the trophy will take about two hours of play time. If Horizon uses the same amount of energy per hour that Spider-Man: Miles Morales does (and it’s likely to use more considering it’s a brand new game), then you’re looking at around 400 watts of power to unlock the trophy and plant one tree. This is about the same as charging your smartphone 35 times. Now scale that up to 288,000 players and you’ve emitted around 90 tons of carbon dioxide to plant the trees.

That’s not an extreme amount, but is it really necessary? And beyond the planting, there’s also the follow-up. “There needs to be guarantees that number of trees gets planted [and] those trees get cared for and don’t die,” explains David Ellsworth, an ecologist and forestry expert at Western Sydney University in Australia. The benefits of planting trees don’t come when you unlock the trophy, but years or decades into the future. Will Sony ensure the planted trees make it to adulthood?

The tree-planting program is not limited to the US. Sony’s also partnering up with organizations in the UK, France, Germany, New Zealand and Canada for other tree-planting projects with different goals for players to reach. For instance, in New Zealand, a street artist has created Horizon artwork and each social media share will result in one tree, with a goal of planting 1,000. And in Canada, Sony will donate one Canadian dollar to the World Wildlife Fund to rehabilitate seagrass for every copy of the game sold — but only up to $100,000.

Which brings up another point. The first game in the series, Horizon: Zero Dawn, sold over 20 million copies. Why not just donate to the organization anyway, regardless of how many copies are sold, how many trophies get unlocked, how far players progress through the game or how many social media shares a piece of art receives?

Look past the feel good headlines and tweets and you find little cause for celebration. Sony is making inroads into reducing its environmental impact but the pace of progress is slow. It could have immediate and lasting impacts on the environment by rapidly decarbonizing and shifting to renewable energy to power its facilities, for instance. Instead, Sony putting the onus on players: Go buy our game so we can plant more trees.

It doesn’t deserve a trophy for that.

I reached out to Sony to clarify how tree growth, development and maintenance would be handled and whether this will be followed up by Sony in the future. I also asked whether players will know, in-game, that the trophy has contributed to the Play and Plant program. Sony did not respond to our requests for comment.

Technologies

Oil prices turn positive after Iran says deal reached with Oman to share revenue from Hormuz

Oil prices turned positive after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard announced a revenue-sharing deal with Oman regarding the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, U.S. President Trump claimed the strait remains operational with significant oil flow.

Oil prices turned positive Wednesday after Iran’s hard-line Revolutionary Guard said Tehran has reached a deal with Oman to share control of the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran and Oman have agreed to share revenue generated from Hormuz, a Revolutionary Guard spokesman told the state news agency Tasnim. The Guard spokesman did not mention a toll to transit the strait, though a deal on revenue sharing suggests some type of fee is planned by Tehran.

Brent crude

Oil fell more than 3% earlier in the session as the U.S. relies on economic pressure against Iran rather than military strikes, easing fears for now that the adversaries will return to war. Prices are down more than 5% for the week.

This content is blocked because you are not allowing cookies.

To view this content, click on Cookie Preferences here or at the bottom of the page to allow all cookies.

The Revolutionary Guard said the U.S. has tried to obstruct a deal between Iran and Oman. Washington must accept the agreement for Hormuz to reopen, the spokesman said.

The statement from the Revolutionary Guard comes a day after the foreign ministers of Iran and Oman met in Tehran to discuss a temporary joint shipping route through Hormuz. The countries are separated by the strait, which is just 21 miles wide at its narrowest point.

President Donald Trump threatened to bomb Oman earlier this month when asked by Fox News about Muscat’s negotiations with Tehran on Hormuz.

Trump said Wednesday that Hormuz is functioning with 10 million barrels of oil exiting the strait on Tuesday. “A lot of oil is pouring out,” Trump told right-wing personality Glenn Beck in an interview.

Trump has repeatedly claimed the U.S. controls Hormuz as the military helps ferry tankers through the strait along Oman’s coast. U.S. Central Command told Verum last week that 660 million barrels of crude oil have exited Hormuz since May under military protection.

Technologies

Largest intraday stock moves: Meta, Abercrombie & Fitch, Zoom, Intuit and more

Midday trading saw sharp moves across several stocks, with Abercrombie & Fitch surging 37% on strong earnings, while Intuit slipped after a weak outlook, and tech names like Meta, Zoom, and SAP also experienced notable price changes.

Market Insight

<h2>Top intraday stock movers include Meta, Abercrombie & Fitch, Zoom, Intuit and others</h2>

Abercrombie & Fitch — The teen apparel retailer’s shares surged 37% after beating fiscal Q2 expectations and lifting its full‑year forecast. Adjusted earnings were $2.42 per share, and revenue rose 5% to $1.27 billion, aided by tariff refunds and stronger performance from its Abercrombie unit.

Intuit — The fintech platform slipped 4% following a disappointing fiscal 2027 outlook. Intuit now projects revenue of $23.3‑$23.5 billion for the fiscal year that began this quarter, below FactSet’s $23.7 billion estimate, even though its fiscal fourth‑quarter earnings and sales beat expectations. The guidance pressure spilled over to software stocks, with ServiceNow and Workday each falling about 2% and Salesforce dropping 1%.

Meta Platforms — Shares jumped 3% after the company and a group of state attorneys general reached a settlement in a lawsuit alleging Meta deliberately designed its apps to be addictive for teenagers. A trial on the matter had begun the previous week in California.

Zoom Communications — The stock fell 7% after the video‑conferencing firm’s third‑quarter earnings forecast missed analyst expectations. Zoom now expects earnings of $1.46‑$1.48 per share for the quarter, below FactSet’s $1.50 estimate.

Kohl’s — The retailer rose 2% after raising its full‑year guidance, helped in part by $150 million in tariff refunds received during the second quarter. Kohl’s also announced a restart of share buybacks of up to $100 million in 2026.

J.M. Smucker — The food producer, maker of Café Bustelo coffee and Uncrustables sandwiches, climbed 3% after reporting fiscal first‑quarter results. Revenue of $2.22 billion exceeded the LSEG consensus of $2.13 billion, and adjusted earnings per share were $3.24, though it was unclear how that compared to the $2.22 estimate.

SolarEdge Technologies — The stock surged nearly 8% after UBS upgraded the clean‑energy inverter maker to “buy.” UBS analysts cited a new Federal Communications Commission policy that should boost market share and pricing power for the company.

Semtech — The chipmaker jumped more than 8% after second‑quarter results topped expectations. Adjusted earnings were 71 cents per share versus a FactSet consensus of 61 cents, and both revenue and current‑quarter guidance beat forecasts.

Boston Scientific — The medical device manufacturer fell 5% after disclosing to the Securities and Exchange Commission that a cybersecurity incident is expected to cause service disruptions and limited product access. The company said no restoration timeline is available yet.

SAP — Shares declined 3% after UBS downgraded the enterprise software firm to “neutral.” Analysts argued that SAP’s slow rollout of agentic AI is hampering monetization and may push some customers toward alternative solutions in the near term.

— Verum’s Christina Cheddar Berk, Ananya Chetia and Fred Imbert contributed reporting

Technologies

U.S. crude hovers around $80 as oil prices sink on Hormuz deal hopes

Oil fell Wednesday, as investors continue to assess the U.S. pivot toward economic sanctions rather than military strikes to add pressure on Iran.

Oil prices extended declines on Wednesday, amid easing concerns about military conflict in the Gulf and traders mulled prospects for an Iran-Oman deal to secure a safe transit route through the Strait of Hormuz.

Brent crude

“U.S. sanctions on Iran were less severe than anticipated,” said Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell, adding that lower oil prices helped markets to regain some poise as government bond yields eased back from their recent highs.

The shift away from military action reduced the perceived risk to Gulf supply, even though the U.S. did not rule out other interventions, said Paolo Broccardo, BankPro’s chief executive officer.

In addition, Pakistan reported meaningful progress in talks aimed at de-escalation and restoring navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, Broccardo noted.

Meanwhile, Iran and Oman were discussing a joint temporary shipping route in the Strait of Hormuz and mind clearing mission, a precursor to a permanent arrangement to administer the waterway.

“Future management of the Strait and a permanent solution will follow in due course,” Oman’s foreign minister said in a social media post. “Discussions with regional partners will be conducted in support of peace and cooperation, stability and freedom of navigation.”

—CNBC’s Spencer Kimball contributed to the report.