German search engine Ecosia launches new climate impact counter

Ecosia, a German search engine that directs 100% of its profits toward climate action, announced a new "impact counter". This allows users to access a profile page where they’ll earn a virtual seed each day they use the engine.

Ecosia is used by over 20 million people who can now log in to their accounts and collect "seeds" that will be reflected into real-world impact: planted trees, restored land, renewable energy, tree care hours.

This extra layer of transparency aims to allow its users get a more tangible feeling of their impact and it's just the beginning, the company says. Over time, Ecosia wants to add more ways to make people's experience more interactive and personalized.

“We started out as a tree planting search engine but we’ve expanded far beyond that and are now invested in a range of climate impact initiatives, from renewable energy and climate tech, to protecting biodiversity. We wanted to give our users access to the very real impact they’re having, so we’re adding new ways for them to track, share and shape that. As governments are rolling back climate protections all over the world, we’re doing the opposite, putting the power to tackle the climate crisis right in our users’ hands and making it easier than ever to make a real difference.” - Christian Kroll, CEO at Ecosia

Ecosia was founded in 2009 and has since dedicated upwards of €92 million to climate action. The majority of their profits have gone to reforestation efforts - over 150 million trees were planted all over the world, but the company is looking at other climate-related initiative as well, such as renewable energy or biodiversity protection.