Logic-data co-production in social finance: how digital platforms transform everyday behavior into green financial assets

The rise of digital platforms is turning everyday low–carbon behaviours into measurable value, yet how these behaviours become legitimate and tradable green assets remains underexplored. This paper examines Ant Forest, a China–based green fintech initiative embedded in the Alipay ecosystem. Drawing on user interviews, media reports, policy documents and platform walkthroughs, we analyze how routine actions – such as walking, using public transport and making paperless payments – are converted into environmental credits that represent measurable carbon reductions. We put forward the Logic–Data Co–Production Mechanism to illustrate the standardisation of behavioural data into data assets that reconcile market, state and green institutional logics. Findings demonstrate that Ant Forest processes low–carbon behaviours into certificates, ESG portfolios and carbon market connections. This builds legitimacy and market liquidity independent of conventional donations. Though rooted in China's institutional environment, the paper discusses boundary conditions and the mechanism's transferability. This research advances social finance and institutional logics literature by unpacking recursive logic–data interactions that help digital platforms co–create green financial value. It identifies infrastructure–reliant sustainability value creation models and offers insights for platforms, regulators and social entrepreneurs in comparable contexts.