View source for Ecosia

'''Ecosia''' is a search engine that uses its revenue to fund environmental initiatives, primarily the planting of trees. Founded in 2009 by Christian Kroll in Berlin, Germany, Ecosia markets itself as a sustainable and eco-friendly alternative to traditional search engines.

== Features ==
* '''Environmental Impact''': Ecosia donates at least 80% of its surplus revenue to tree-planting projects worldwide.
* '''Privacy''': Ecosia does not sell user data to advertisers and anonymizes searches after one week.
* '''Transparency''': The company publishes monthly financial reports to show how its revenue is used.
* '''Renewable Energy''': Ecosia runs its servers on renewable energy to minimize its carbon footprint.

== Tree Planting ==
As of 2025, Ecosia has helped plant over 200 million trees in various countries, including Brazil, Indonesia, and Kenya. Each search contributes to funding tree-planting efforts.

== Criticisms ==
Some critics argue that Ecosia's impact is limited compared to global deforestation rates, and questions have been raised about the long-term survival of planted trees.

== See also ==
* [[Sustainable business]]
* [[Comparison of search engines]]
* [[Afforestation]]

== References ==
<references />