Unity joins Playing for the Planet Alliance
Engine firm also commits to the Pledge 1% movement at the first Unity for Humanity Summit
Unity Technologies has joined the Playing for the Planet Alliance, one of three new partnerships forged by the company's Social Impact division.
The United Nations-backed Playing for the Planet Alliance launched in 2019, with 21 companies committing to reducing the games industry's environmental impact.
Unity is the latest company to sign up for the initiative. Alongside Microsoft, Sony and Google, it is one of the largest companies to make the commitment to date.
"Unity's commitment will provide a major boost to the alliance's efforts to reduce carbon emissions, protect and restore forests and explore the introduction of new 'green nudges' in game design," Playing for the Planet's Sam Barratt said in a statement.
Playing for the Planet gave a talk at GDC Summer about the ways in which games companies can be more environmentally conscious, which you can read about here.
The commitment to Playing for the Planet was announced at the Unity for Humanity Summit, a free conference happening this week, where the company's new Social Impact division was a key focus.
In addition to joining Playing for the Planet, Unity also announced that it is part of Pledge 1%, a global movement that requires "companies of all sizes to donate 1% of their product, profit, employee time, and/or equity to causes of their choosing."
"Increasingly, we're noting a strong trend of top companies like Unity who are setting aside equity for social impact prior to their IPOs," said Pledge 1% CEO Amy Lesnick.
The activities of Unity's Social Impact division will be backed by a store of 750,000 shares, which became available when the company went public last month. Based on its stock price last week, that equity is equivalent to more than $65 million.
Finally, Unity revealed a new partnership with Rare Beauty, an organisation focused on mental health in "underserved communities." Unity is providing $50,000 for creators working on projects addressing mental health issues, and a further $50,000 for Rare Beauty's Rare Impact Fund.