Planting Trees Whilst Searching the Web

What Is Ecosia?

Ecosia is a not-for-profit search engine and certified B Corporation based in Berlin. Unlike conventional search engines that funnel advertising revenue to shareholders, Ecosia channels its profits into tree-planting projects around the world. The company publishes monthly financial reports showing exactly how much revenue it generates and how that money is allocated, offering a level of transparency that is rare in the technology sector. Since its founding in 2009, Ecosia has funded the planting of over 200 million trees across more than 35 countries.

How It Works

The mechanics are straightforward. Ecosia displays search advertisements alongside its results, just like any other search engine, and earns revenue when users click on those ads. On average, it takes roughly 45 searches to generate enough ad revenue to fund the planting of one tree. Ecosia's search results are powered by Bing's index, supplemented by its own algorithms, which means the quality of results is comparable to what you would expect from a major search engine. The experience of using Ecosia day to day feels familiar: you type a query, you get results, and in the background your searches are contributing to reforestation efforts without any extra effort on your part.

Environmental Impact

Ecosia's tree-planting projects are carefully selected in partnership with local organisations in regions where reforestation can have the greatest ecological and social impact. Projects span biodiversity hotspots in Brazil, degraded farmland in Burkina Faso, and fire-affected areas in Australia, among many others. Beyond carbon sequestration, these projects restore habitats, protect watersheds, and create sustainable livelihoods for local communities. Ecosia also runs its servers on renewable energy and has invested in its own solar plants, meaning that each search is carbon-negative rather than merely carbon-neutral.

A Viable Ethical Alternative

For individuals and businesses looking to reduce their environmental footprint through everyday actions, switching to Ecosia is one of the simplest changes you can make. The browser extension and mobile app make it easy to set Ecosia as your default search engine across all devices. While no search engine can match Google's sheer depth of features and personalisation, Ecosia delivers strong results for the vast majority of everyday queries. For a digital agency like ours, which takes its name from the natural world, supporting a search engine that actively restores forests feels like a natural fit.