POINT 1 POINT 4

Ecosia: Green Search Engine for Afforestation

POINT 2 POINT 5 CONCLUSION

I. Introduction POINT 3 INTRO

The Ecosia.org search engine is a new way to plant trees using the power of the
internet. They compensate users by planting trees in response to their searches.
Consider them an ecological Google, Bing, or Yahoo, through which users may access
and explore the internet in the same way as they would normally. Due to financial
limitations, Ecosia does not use its search engine but instead utilizes the Bing search
engine technology. Revenue is made when users click on promoted advertisements that
show in the search results. Their business model is straightforward: donate 80% of
their profits to tree planting projects and reforestation programs , and the remaining
20% is utilized to cover necessary expenses such as salaries, servers, domain
registration, and marketing.

A search engine called Ecosia claims to be an ethical search engine that uses its
generated ad revenue to plant trees around the world. However, people cannot avoid
asking questions. Does Ecosia really plant trees? Moreover, if it does, how well does it
perform as a green search engine? Is it legit? Is Ecosia an environmentally better
engine to use than Google?

To begin, do Ecosia really plant trees? Yes, that appears to be the case.
According to the company's financial reports, 80% of profits go toward tree planting. Is
Ecosia, in fact, an excellent green search engine? The answer is somewhat intriguing. It
lacks Google's frills, such as the bios that appear when users search for people, as well
as definitions and conversions. They have implemented a way to overcome any of these
shortcomings compared to Google by using shortcut tags for external searches.

This review mainly focuses on how does Ecosia works as a green search engine.
The facts that the critiques will gather could indicate that environmental search engines
can significantly impact the fight against climate change.
 II. Short Summary of the Work

Ecosia is a web internet or online search engine same with Google, but this search
engine is different, because it uses a part of its 80% profits and advertising revenue
towards planting trees for some of the most threatened ecosystems around the world.
It is based in Berlin, Germany, founded by Christian Kroll. The Ecosia.org works through
the searches of Internet users. Every forty-five (45) searches that a user made, a tree
is planted, that only takes 0.8 to 19 seconds. Also, each of the searches removes
around 1 kg of carbon dioxide (CO 2) from the atmosphere every day. The Ecosia has
twenty-one (21) reforestation projects across the globe and there are about more than
fifteen (15) million Ecosia users with seven hundred-twenty (720) thousand searches
per day that have successfully planted over one hundred-twenty (120) million trees
around the world.

Similar to other search engines, Ecosia displays various advertisements together

with the search results. When the users are directed to an advertisement, the Ecosia
will get paid by the company partners and that is how they obtain revenue. From this
advertising revenue, the company of Ecosia uses it to help to mitigate and relieve the
impacts of deforestation and climate change in our planet by planting trees with the
help of the non-profit organizations as well as the Ecosia users.

Ecosia plant trees to the vulnerable area or places that is most essentially needed
and being at risk for destruction, like biogeographic region and environmental crisis
zones. Ecosia users can choose a type of trees they want to plant, such as trees to fight
hunger, trees to protect wildlife and trees to tackle climate change and it will be part in
one of the Ecosia reforestation project in a particular country, depending on what type
of trees being chosen. In order to achieve this, tree-planting experts works with the
local partners who can nurture and monitor trees in a certain area or region.
 III. Argument

Point 1. Not 100% of Ecosia’s profits are used to finance reforestation

projects.

At the time of the writing of this review, Ecosia was able to finance the planting
of more than 129 million trees. These funds were taken from their advertisement
revenue which was generated from selling ad space in their search engine causing
advertised search results to show at the top of the page rather than the organic search
results.

In the upper right corner of the search page results, there is an indicator that
supposedly tells the number of trees you have planted by using Ecosia. The said
number indicates the number of searches you have made that would be directed to tree
planting projects because it is notable that not every search you have done would
directly or indirectly support the organization. This feature will motivate Ecosia users to
use the search engine more, because internet users feel better with the idea of using a
product of a company helping mitigate the effects of climate change by planting trees
(Palos-Sanchez, Pedro & Saura, José, 2018.)

Although the main initiative of Ecosia is to use the potential of internet searches
to generate funds for reforestation projects, not all of the profits are used for this
purpose. This is to be expected as they still need to finance their operations and to pay
salaries and tax responsibilities. Recently, Ecosia has also reported to have invested for
green initiatives such as solar power plants and regenerative agriculture. Roughly 80%
of their surplus are used to finance tree-planting projects.

Financial reports are self-published, monthly, by Ecosia online to supposedly

assure users the appropriate profit maximization and that no lavish corporate parties
are benefitting from it. Ecosia has been a certified B-corporation since 2014. These are
given to businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and
environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance
profit and purpose so it is safe to say that the financial reports they issue are correct.

Point 2. For a reforestation project to be successful, it must also provide

socioeconomic advantages to a locality, aside from the benefits it brings in
the aspect of environmental conservation.

Ecosia doesn’t have a team of their own who does the planting. They partner
with organization who would do the on-the-ground work at areas where biodiversity is
at risk and where the local community can participate and benefit from the project
because they aim for a sound approach in the socioeconomic context to bring trees
back. This strategy will reap better results because if people are aware that they would
be benefitting from it like dependable source of income, harvests, restore landscapes,
and increase wildlife habitat, they would also be involved in ensuring that these trees
survive. Ecosia has reported that these locals get to keep whatever benefits or profits
they get from the trees planted.

The criteria and standards to be met by their partner organizations’ projects are
developed from a portfolio of reforestation projects, which is consistent in context but
can be aligned with the setups and projects according to the biodiversity status of the
chosen locality. The team that develops these portfolios are headed by Pieter van
Midwoud, and to our research, has the expertise and the background that qualifies him
for the role with his scientific background in landscape restoration.
 Aside from financials, Ecosia also provide reports on their reforestation projects
through their page wherein you can see the list of countries alongside the partner
organizations they are currently working with, and the amount they have put in there.
The actualized reforestation projects can also be seen in their YouTube channel where
they upload contents about the visitations in the areas they have already successfully
grown trees. Showing that their actions and impacts are visible not only increases the
trust users have on them but may also be an effective ecological marketing strategy
(Palos-Sanchez, Pedro & Saura, José, 2018).

Point 3. A search engine that follows a timely and progressive environmental

outlook may be a great alternative

It is a familiar concept that search engines play a vital role in people’s lives by
helping them find quick and easy solutions to some of the world’s most complex
problems, having billions of users or so worldwide. As of now, Google has the most
number of users, but it isn’t exactly the most sustainable option (Valeviciute, 2020). At
the minimum, Google hasn’t done anything purposeful to the environment, unlike
Ecosia, which has done several tree-planting projects over the years.

Ecosia uses all its advertisement benefits for a cause. Its users yield income
through the search results that are done on the search engine. Ecosia follows a
viewpoint where the revenue generated is financed to benefit several tree-planting
organizations, which pave the way for their schemes to transpire successfully. Hence, in
the aspect of environmental sustainability, Ecosia is notably way ahead of the game.
 On a functional level, Ecosia's browser is similar to other popular browsers. It has
many of the same features, but Ecosia does outperform Google and Bing in terms of
search security since all searches are encrypted, as reflected by the lock icon in the URL
bar. Furthermore, each search done on Ecosia becomes anonymous after one week,
ensuring excellent security for its users, as opposed to Google and Bing, which retain
fragments of search data (such as the device or date) even after removing the browser
history and cookies (Mair, 2020).

Generally, Ecosia’s paramount redeeming quality is to provide a timely and

progressive outlook by prompting numerous tree-planting projects as a way to curb
environmental degradation and, at the same time, serving its function as an excellent
search engine. With its significant initiatives and respect for user privacy, it may not be
long until the onset of Ecosia’s position in being the most worthwhile search engine out
there.

Point 4. Ecosia is the most environmentally friendly search engine to use thus
far

Ecosia’s partnership with Bing (a search engine owned by Microsoft) may seem
contradictory because Ecosia’s objectives and Microsoft’s operation do not complement
each other since Microsoft uses only 50% renewable energy and some lower than 40%
in other parts of the world, according to some sources online. In a way, this means that
they’re partly using non-renewable energy to run their tree-planting schemes, which is
seemingly counterproductive.

However, Ecosia alone runs on 200% renewable energy, meaning they produce
twice as much renewables and eliminate more carbon than they produce through every
search. As with Microsoft, they plan to commit to an operation powered by 100%
renewable energy by 2025 and ultimately eliminate all the carbon they have ever
produced since then. Ergo, it is safe to say that their partnership can’t be principally
perceived as some juxtaposition.
 Furthermore, Ecosia plans to curb deforestation, reduce carbon footprint,
mitigate climate change, and sustain the environment above all. Their notion goes
against that of the other search engines, notably Google, which only run to profit from
their users. Ecosia does not aim for profit maximization and instead aims to spur
beneficial environmental effects by using 80% of their profit to finance several
reforestation projects. Despite being the most used search engine, Google isn’t
objectively the best one in terms of being the most environmentally friendly search
engine since it does not follow a progressive outlook.

Ecosia has done incredibly in taking initiatives to help sustain the environment.
Not only have they planted more than 129 million trees since their operation, but they
also have a long-term goal to plant more than one billion trees in the near future. Ergo,
if put under the context of being the most environmentally friendly search engine,
Ecosia is undoubtedly the one to utilize.