Huge French charity Twitch stream raises over €10 million to fight climate change

While the likes of Ninja and Dr Disrespect might be among the biggest names in streaming for those who live in the US and UK, it’s important to remember that the medium isn’t solely home to massive personalities from the Anglosphere.

Indeed, one of the major strengths of a platform like Twitch is its ability to give creators from all over the world a chance to broadcast in their own language and cultivate a huge audience.

For a few years now, a group of French streamers have been doing both of these things, but also using the platform to gather together and raise money for charities. Their most recent effort has garnered over €10 million for environmental causes.

Did you catch any of the action from Montpellier over the weekend?

Broadcast on Twitch between 8 September and 11 September, the initiative that raised this money is called Z Event and involved 50 hours straight of gaming, including titles like Pokemon and The Sims, by 59 French streamers.

First organised in 2016, Z Event is the brainchild of indie game studio CEO Adrien ‘ZeratoR’ Nougaret and Alexandre ‘Dach’ Dachary, who’ve made it an annual tradition and have previously raised money for charities like the French Red Cross and Amnesty International.

This year’s focus was climate change, leading the team to decide upon splitting the money raised between World Wildlife Fund, Sea Shepherds, The Sea Cleaners and the French charity Ligue de Protection des Oiseaux, all of which contribute to solving different environmental concerns.

The lofty sum that’s set to be split between them following the broadcast amounts to €10,182,126/£8,818,838, an impressive total that narrowly beats out last year’s result of €10,064,480/£8,716,944, which went to Action Against Hunger.

This achievement prompted French President Emanuel Macron to post a video to Twitter congratulating the streamers on their efforts, though ResetEra user Rouk' suggested in a post about the event that some participants and fans thought Macron’s words to be a little hollow, accusing the French government of not doing enough to fight climate change.

Meanwhile, Nougaret also took to Twitter following the event, saying: “I can't believe what we did, it's unreal.”

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