Pokémon Go Sustainability week introduces new Pokémon

Pokemon Go Binacle
(Image credit: Niantic)

Pokémon Go Sustainability Week event lets players earn in-game bonuses by achieving sustainability-related goals.

Niantic's Pokémon Go Sustainability Week aims to raise awareness for environmental issues while also rewarding players with new Pokémon, timed-research events, and more common spawns for a variety of Pokémon throughout the week. The event is being run in partnership with the Niantic Sustainability Campaign.

The headline feature of the event is the addition of Binacle, the Two-Handed Pokémon, which is making its debut in the game. Binacle is a rock/water type Pokémon based on a real life creature called a Goose Barnacle, which first appeared in Pokémon X & Y.

Alongside this new Pokémon, you’ll also see more common spawns for a variety of sustainability-themed Pokémon like Grimer and Trubbish to help highlight the issues of pollution and waste. There is also a T-shirt up for grabs in the shop, and a timed research event that you can take part in. Finally, new Pokémon have been added to the raid roster including Vileplume and Alolan Exeguttor.

The Pokémon Go Sustainability Week starts on April 20 at 10 am local time and runs through until April 25, 8:00 pm local time. You can see the full feature list below, or one the PokémonGoLive website:

Features 

  • Binacle, the Two-Handed Pokémon, will be making its Pokémon GO debut!
  • Pokémon like Grimer, Drilbur, Trubbish, Ferroseed, and more will be appearing more often in the wild. If you’re lucky, you might encounter a Shiny Trubbish!
  • The following Pokémon will be hatching from 5 km Eggs: Diglett, Tangela, Goldeen, Budew, Cherubi, Finneon, and Drilbur.
  • Vileplume, Alolan Exeggutor, Trubbish, Binacle, and more will be appearing in raids.
  • Complete event-exclusive Field Research to earn encounters with Cottonee, Chespin, Binacle, and more.
  • There will also be event-exclusive Timed Research for you to enjoy.
  • A free Sustainability Week T-shirt avatar item will be available in the shop!

There are also some rewards to unlock by working together with other Pokémon Go players, along with those playing other Niantic games worldwide, to help clean up your local communities. You can take part by either picking up trash around your local neighborhood, planting a tree or other native plant, or volunteering for a local cause. Share your activities on social media and the community will collectively unlock the following  rewards:

Unlock Rewards

  • Tier 1(2,500 activations): Five-star raids will appear more often.
  • Tier 2 (5,000 activations): A free bundle containing three Remote Raid Passes will be available in the shop. The rewards from Tier 1 will remain active.
  • Tier 3 (10,000 activations): A 2× Catch XP bonus will be live. The rewards from Tiers 1 and 2 will remain active.

As always, Niantic asks that you are aware of your surroundings when playing Pokémon Go, and that you follow guidelines from local health authorities, especially if your region still has COVID-19 restrictions in place.

If you’re still trying to catch them all, then you’ll need to know how to get all of the Pokémon Go Eevee evolutions in your collection.

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Ian Stokes
Contributor

Ian Stokes is an experienced writer and journalist. You'll see his words on GamesRadar+ from time to time, but Ian spends the majority of his time working on other Future Plc publications. He has served as the Reviews Editor for Top Ten Reviews and led the tech/entertainment sections of LiveScience and Space.com as Tech and Entertainment Editor.