You can now plant trees around the world… while searching the web!
Global – Ecosia is like any other search engine, with one significant difference: they use their profits to plant trees!
Ecosia is an Internet search engine based in Berlin, Germany, that plants trees by donating 80% or more of its surplus income to non-profit organisations that focus on reforestation and conservationism. Ecosia considers itself a social business, is CO2-negative, claims to support full financial transparency, protects the privacy of its users and is certified by B-Lab as a benefit corporation.
Early in 2019 Ecosia had planted more than 50 million trees throughout the world
“There are all kinds of problems in our modern world that need fixing. At Ecosia, we want to do our share to find and support innovative solutions to as many of these problems as we can. As part of our vision to end deforestation, we want to plant one billion new trees by the year 2020.”
Ecosia first launched on 7 December 2009 to coincide with UN climate talks in Copenhagen. Over time, Ecosia has supported various tree-planting programs. Until December 2010 Ecosia’s funds went to a program by WWF Germany that protected the Juruena National Park in the Amazon basin. To protect this area, the organisers drew up and financed plans with timber companies and the local communities.
By 2011, the search engine had raised over R3 million, and in 2013, more than 200 000 Ecosia users had funded 116 000 seedlings.
Ecosia works with multiple organizations, such as the Eden Reforestation Projects, Hommes et Terre, and various local partners, to plant trees in 16 countries throughout the world. Ecosia says that they focus on planting trees where they are most needed: “biodiversity hotspots” which are areas with large numbers of unique species, and regions with poor communities that cannot handle large scale tree-planting on their own. There are multiple environmental benefits of trees: they absorb carbon dioxide and thus slow global warming; they prevent desertification and keep the soil fertile, and they provide safe habitats for forest-dwelling animals. Additionally, Ecosia claims that they support local communities by creating a steady income for the planting and care of trees, providing food and income from harvesting the trees, improving agriculture from soil replenished by trees, and finally leading to economic and political stability by lifting locals out of poverty.
Ecosia currently has one or more projects in the following countries: Peru, Nicaragua, Colombia, Haiti, Brazil, Morocco, Spain, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Madagascar, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Indonesia.
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Rare Riverine Rabbit Caught on Camera in Sutherland After More Than Two Decades!In October 2018, Ecosia launched a regenerative agriculture competition in cooperation with Richard Perkins.
On 9 October 2018, Ecosia offered R17 million to buy the Hambach Forest from German energy company RWE AG to save it from being cut down for lignite mining. Ecosia previously urged users to switch to renewable energy providers.
On 15 March 2019, Ecosia supported the school strike for climate movement led by Greta Thunberg, by planting a tree for every person who joined the Berlin strike. In May 2019, the company announced the 25 000 trees were now planted in Madagascar. Ecosia’s CEO, Christian Kroll, has joined the Entrepreneurs for Future group.
The website maintains a running total of the number of trees planted. As of 26 May 2019, the search engine has been responsible for the planting of more than 58.1 million trees.
To add Ecosia as your browser, click here.
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