Ecosia is a search engine which uses the income generated by its search ads to plant trees to combat deforestation.
Founded by Christian Kroll in 2009, who came up with the idea following a year-long journey around the world, during which he was confronted with the importance of trees to our world, Ecosia is a search engine that fuses Bing search technology with its own algorithms.
The company is described as a social business, which dedicates at least 80 percent of its profits to tree planting, and is the first German company to become a B Corporation due to its social business model.
When customers click on adverts and online purchases, this creates revenue for Ecosia, which then funnels this revenue into “tree planting and community programs all over the world.”
Ecosia says it “neutralises all carbon emissions related to” customer searches, and offers its users “full transparency”, publishing proof of its financial support, including monthly planting partner receipts.
To date, Ecosia has planted 33.2 million trees, and vows to plant 1 billion by 2020.
To find out more visit www.ecosia.org.
