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

Trump Maintains US‑Iran Negotiations Continue Amid Tehran’s Denials of Duplicity

President Trump insists that US‑Iran talks are ongoing despite Tehran’s denial of any negotiation plans, while warning that only a deal or total surrender will allow passage through the Strait of Hormuz. Conflicting statements from both sides have heightened uncertainty as the conflict enters its sixth month.

On Monday, President Donald Trump asserted that negotiations between the United States and Iran are still taking place, even after Tehran stated it has no intention of engaging in direct talks with Washington.

In a fiery Truth Social post, Trump labeled Iran’s leaders “unbelievably duplicitous,” claiming they are lying about ongoing peace talks “whether Iran wants to admit it or not.” He repeated his assertion that the United States completely controls the Strait of Hormuz, despite maritime traffic through the crucial route lingering at only a small fraction of pre‑conflict levels.

He wrote, “Nothing reaches Iran unless we allow it, and nothing will pass unless a deal—or total surrender—is achieved.”

Earlier that day, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told reporters there is no imminent plan for U.S.–Iran negotiations, contradicting Trump’s earlier comment that talks would resume Monday afternoon. Baghaei added that Iran’s only current discussions are with Oman concerning the Strait of Hormuz.

The conflicting statements have heightened uncertainty over the peace‑talk process and the broader conflict, now in its sixth month.

Trump’s assertion about new negotiations came a day after he said on Truth Social that he had agreed to cancel a massive strike against Iran “subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL.” He said in the same post that Iran and other Middle Eastern countries had asked him to hold off on that attack because “the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to.”

Trump has claimed dozens of times throughout the more‑than‑five‑month‑long war that a deal is at hand. No permanent deal has been signed, and a temporary ceasefire reached in June has fallen apart.

Trump has also repeatedly threatened to launch devastating strikes against Iran before backing off. After the latest example, oil prices on Monday fell and stocks surged.

BMI, a research unit of Fitch Solutions, said in a note Monday that a broader diplomatic understanding on reopening the Strait of Hormuz is still achievable this quarter, while raising the probability of its escalation scenario to 35% from 25%, citing mounting military, diplomatic and economic signs of rising U.S.-Iran tensions.

“Diplomatic progress is likely to be punctuated by periodic military flare-ups, while miscalculation by either side could trigger a renewed escalation,” BMI analysts wrote in a note. The firm said the key issue to watch is the future governance of the strait, as the Iran-Oman talks — potentially backed by Gulf states, China and the U.S. — point to efforts to build a post-conflict shipping framework.

Shipping risks persist even as diplomacy appears to be advancing. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre said it received a report of an incident 20 nautical miles (23 miles) northeast of Khasab, Oman — at the mouth of the strait — with a tanker’s master reporting an explosion in close proximity to the vessel at about 20:37 UTC Sunday (4:37 pm ET). The vessel and crew were safe and authorities are investigating, UKMTO said, advising ships to transit with caution.

The proposal Trump announced over the weekend calls for the U.S. and Iran to return to negotiations and continue ironing out some of the thorny issues that had derailed diplomatic efforts, according to The Associated Press, citing a regional official involved in the mediation efforts.

The official said the proposal also includes a reopening of the Hormuz Strait and halting attacks across the region, including by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq on the Arab Gulf countries and Jordan.

The U.S., for its part, will end its naval blockade on Iran and allow Tehran to export its oil, the official said, adding that no deal has been reached, although the mediation efforts remained underway.

Trump’s weekend reversal has lowered the temperature after days of escalating attacks across the Gulf. Kuwait said Saturday that Iranian forces launched a wave of drones within its airspace, with its military destroying multiple aircraft after Iran targeted critical infrastructure in the country’s north.

A parallel track with Muscat is also advancing. Iranian diplomats said Tehran was close to reaching a new arrangement with Oman to manage shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a deal critical to preventing the war from escalating further, according to the Financial Times.

Iranian officials said negotiations over future management of the Hormuz Strait with Oman, which sits on the opposite shore of the waterway, are in their final stages. The agreed shipping route would be different from those used before, according to Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Baghaei, adding that the new route was separate from the issue of the strait’s reopening or continued closure.

Technologies

Oil Prices Slide as Trump Halts Planned Iran Strike

Oil prices dropped after Trump cancelled a planned strike on Iran, with WTI down about 5% and Brent near 5% lower. He said the move followed requests from Tehran and regional allies for a pause while a deal shaping the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s nuclear program is negotiated.

Oil prices fell on Monday after President Donald Trump announced he had cancelled a planned strike on Iran. WTI futures dropped roughly 5% to $80.34 a barrel, while Brent slipped about 4.7% to $83.77 a barrel.

Trump said early Sunday he called off the strike after Iran and several Middle Eastern nations asked him to hold off, noting that the outlines of a deal had been agreed upon. He added that the prospective accord would entail the immediate, full opening of the Strait of Hormuz and an end to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, according to his Truth Social post.

The president had been considering another round of strikes as diplomatic hopes waned since the conflict began on February 28. He said the U.S. and Iran would meet for talks on Monday, but Iran denied any scheduled negotiations with Washington, citing PressTV. Iran’s foreign‑ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei clarified that Tehran was only discussing shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz with Oman. In a follow‑up Truth Social message, Trump insisted that, regardless of Iran’s acknowledgment, the United States is indeed discussing a solution to a long‑standing problem created by Iran.

Technologies

Oil Prices Drop as Trump Cancels Planned Attack on Iran

Oil prices fell sharply after President Trump announced the cancellation of a planned strike on Iran, citing a new deal that would open the Hormuz Strait and end Iran’s nuclear threat.

Oil prices fell sharply on Monday after President Donald Trump announced that he had called off a planned strike on Iran.

West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. benchmark, slipped roughly 5% to close at $80.34 per barrel, while Brent crude, the international benchmark, declined 4.7% to settle at $83.77 a barrel.

Trump made the announcement early Sunday, saying he had canceled the strike following requests from Tehran and other Middle Eastern countries.

In a Truth Social post, he wrote: “We have just been asked by Iran, and other Middle Eastern Countries, to hold off any attack in that the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to.”

The president indicated that the proposed agreement would include the immediate, complete, and total opening of the Hormuz Strait, as well as an end to Iran’s nuclear threat.

Trump had been weighing additional strikes amid diminishing prospects for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict that began on Feb. 28. He stated that the U.S. and Iran would hold negotiations on Monday.

Tehran denied that talks were planned with Washington, according to state news outlet PressTV.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Tehran was only holding talks with Oman regarding the routes ships can use through the Strait of Hormuz.

In a subsequent Truth Social post, Trump added that whether “Iran wants to admit it or not, we are, in fact, talking of a solution to a problem that they have caused for decades.”