Berlin-based Ecosia, the green search engine which invests 100% of its profits into climate action initiatives, is launching a new climate impact experience for its 20 million users – moving their primary focus away from planting trees.
They can now log in to a new profile page and start collecting a seed for each day they use Ecosia in their ‘impact counter’, which will then show them how they are contributing to real world initiatives which range from tackling deforestation, to investing in renewable energy and ClimateTech.
Christian Kroll, CEO at Ecosia, commented: “We started out as a tree planting search engine but we’ve expanded far beyond that and are now invested in a range of climate impact initiatives, from renewable energy and climate tech, to protecting biodiversity. We wanted to give our users access to the very real impact they’re having, so we’re adding new ways for them to track, share and shape that.
“As governments are rolling back climate protections all over the world, we’re doing the opposite, putting the power to tackle the climate crisis right in our users’ hands and making it easier than ever to make a real difference.”
Ecosia was founded in 2009 and has since dedicated upwards of €92 million to climate action. While the majority of profits have been channeled towards reforestation efforts — planting and protecting over 225 million trees around the world — the company has a growing focus on climate impact initiatives.
These range from investments in renewable energy and ClimateTech, to supporting regenerative agriculture, and the enforcement of climate and biodiversity protection.
Historically, Ecosia had been known as the tree-planting search engine – having planted over 230 million trees globally since launch in 2009.
Now, Ecosia’s leadership team has made the decision to shift from trees to more broader climate investment. This includes investing in regenerative agriculture, renewable energy, and other biodiversity protection schemes. Ecosia will still plant trees where appropriate, this is however no longer their primary climate impact focus.
This is perhaps the biggest change to Ecosia’s business model since launch – alongside founder Christian Kroll’s decision to give away his shares in 2018, and the decision to build their own search engine back-end tech (to end dependence on Google) last year.
With the impact counter and new profile view, users can see how their seeds are having a tangible positive impact on people, ecosystems, and wildlife, giving visual proof of how much they have helped replenish the planet. Their profile will display estimated figures for the number of seedlings planted, amount of renewable energy generated, hours of tree care, and area restored.
In time, Ecosia will be building out functionality so users can personalise their Ecosia experience even further and engage in their real world impact in new ways, for example through personalised tips on how to be more climate active, accessing exclusive content and planet-friendly rewards, and teaming up with others to rally behind shared goals.
Kroll added: “Tackling the climate crisis can feel like heavy work and it can be hard to know what to do and where to start. By creating and building this experience, with personal elements like our new counter, we’re hoping to engage and grow our community, which means we can then grow our climate impact in turn.
“We see a future where the climate impact experience becomes a platform for social change — providing an easy way to connect with others passionate about the planet and to promote climate action.”
In 2021 Ecosia became the first investor in the World Fund — Europe’s largest Climate VC Fund. Ecosia also has extensive investments in solar initiatives, including building roof-top commercial-scale solar systems and operating a ground-mounted solar system in Germany, enabling solar home systems with energy innovator Zolar, and developing commercial-scale solar systems in the Global South with Ecoligo.
Other investments include agroforestry projects in Germany, such as helping local biodiversity steward and juice producer Ostmost, and supporting the world’s biggest transformation to Bioland organic farming. Ecosia is also an early investor in Wildfarming in the UK.
Further reading
If you’re interested in finding out more about Ecosia’s journey, why not check out our previous coverage and the EU-Startups Podcast episode featuring Christian Kroll, CEO at Ecosia.
