Ecosia Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids
Ecosia

Type of site	Search engine
Available in	English and 27 other languages
CEO	Christian Kroll
Revenue	35.3M€ (2023)
Commercial	Yes
Users	>20 million
Launched	7 December 2009; 15 years ago (2009-12-07)
Current status	Active

Ecosia is a special search engine that helps the environment. It was started in Berlin, Germany. What makes Ecosia different is that it uses its money to plant trees around the world. It also tries to remove more carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the air than it creates. Ecosia is open about how it uses its money and works hard to keep your searches private.

History of Ecosia
How Ecosia Works
Ecosia's Business Model
- Investments and New Ideas
Ecosia's Impact
Ecosia on Different Browsers
See also

History of Ecosia

Ecosia began on December 7, 2009. This was at the same time as important climate talks in Copenhagen. From the start, Ecosia has focused on supporting projects that plant trees.

In its early days, Ecosia helped a program by WWF Germany. This program worked to protect the Juruena National Park in the Amazon basin. They worked with local people and timber companies to keep the area safe.

How Ecosia Works

Ecosia website showing tree counter, 1 May 2023

When Ecosia first started, it showed search results from Yahoo! and used technology from Microsoft Bing and Wikipedia. Ads on Ecosia were also provided by Yahoo! back then.

Since 2017, Ecosia's search results have mostly come from Bing. Ads from Microsoft Advertising appear next to the search results. Ecosia says it earns a small amount of money, "a few cents," each time someone clicks on an ad. They also get a small part of the price if you buy something through a special link. In 2023, Ecosia also started using search results from Google.

Ecosia wants to protect your privacy. It says that your searches are kept safe and are not saved forever. The company also promises not to sell your information to other companies. They state that they do not create personal profiles about you based on what you search for.

Ecosia's Business Model

Christian Kroll, founder of Ecosia, in 2019

Ecosia uses most of its profits to plant trees. About 80% of the money it earns from ads goes towards tree-planting projects. In 2018, the founder, Christian Kroll, made sure that the company's profits would always be used for good. He gave up his right to sell Ecosia or take profits out of the company for himself. This means Ecosia's main goal will always be to help the planet.

For example, in March 2021, Ecosia earned about €1.9 million. The biggest thing they spent money on was "trees," which cost about €789,000. This was more than their operating costs. When you click on an ad in Ecosia, Microsoft earns money, but Ecosia gets a large part of that money. This money then helps plant trees.

Ecosia works with Microsoft Bing, which helps Ecosia keep its own costs low. This means Ecosia doesn't have to spend a lot of money on its own computer systems. In March 2021, Ecosia spent much less on servers and software than it did on its employees.

In January 2023, Ecosia handled a small but growing share of search requests in Europe. It was behind bigger search engines like Google and Bing, but it's a popular choice for people who want to make a difference.

Investments and New Ideas

Ecosia also invests in other companies that help the environment.

In 2020, Ecosia bought a part of a company called TreeCard. TreeCard makes debit cards out of wood instead of plastic. Ecosia planned to send 80% of its profits from these cards to tree-planting projects.
In 2022, Ecosia launched "freetree," which is a browser extension. This extension lets you plant trees when you shop online. A small part of the money from your purchases goes towards planting trees.
In 2023, Ecosia also started helping new companies that focus on climate solutions and better farming methods.

Ecosia's Impact

Ecosia is a "B Lab certified" company. This means it meets high standards for being responsible and sustainable. As of February 2024, Ecosia says it has planted over 200 million trees since it started!

Map of countries where Ecosia is planting trees as of 2021

By July 2020, Ecosia had planted over 100 million trees. This helped remove more than 50,000 metric tonnes of CO₂ from the air every month. In June 2022, they had passed 150 million trees. At that time, Ecosia was able to fund a new tree planting every 0.8 seconds, which is about 108,000 trees per day!

Ecosia believes that each search you do with them helps remove 1 kg of CO₂ from the air.

Wolfgang Oels, chief operating officer of Ecosia, speaking at an event in 2022

A group called Ethical Consumer looked at Ecosia and how it works with Bing. They found Ecosia to be better for the environment than Google or Microsoft Bing. However, they noted that it's not the actual searches that plant trees, but the clicks on ads. They also suggested Ecosia could be even more open about its relationship with Microsoft Bing.

Ecosia on Different Browsers

You can use Ecosia on many popular web browsers. These include Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Microsoft Edge. You can usually add it as your default search engine by downloading an extension.

Ecosia also has its own web browser app for mobile phones. You can find it in the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

Some other web browsers have also included Ecosia as a default search option. These include Pale Moon, Polarity, and Vivaldi. In 2018, Firefox added Ecosia as an option for its German users.

In 2019, Ecosia decided not to join a special auction by Google. This auction would have allowed them to be a default search option on Android phones in Europe. Ecosia's founder, Christian Kroll, said they didn't want to pay Google for something that should be fair for everyone.

However, Ecosia later became a default search engine option for Google Chrome in 47 different countries in 2020. This was the first time a search engine that wasn't for profit was offered as a choice to users. In December 2020, Apple's Safari web browser also added Ecosia as a search option. In 2021, Ecosia also became an official search engine on the Brave browser.

In April 2024, Ecosia launched its very own web browser, which is based on Chromium. They also started promoting special links to earn money when users buy things on websites like Amazon. This money helps them plant more trees.

Ecosia facts for kids

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