What it is
Ecosia is a search engine that uses its advertising revenue to plant trees. Powered by Bing's search API with its own ranking refinements, Ecosia donates approximately 80% of surplus revenue to tree-planting and ecosystem restoration projects worldwide. Over 200 million trees planted across 35+ countries as of 2025. The search engine runs on 200% renewable energy (solar-powered servers). Available as a browser, mobile app, and default search engine setting.
Why we picked this
Ecosia turns an action you already perform dozens of times daily (searching the web) into environmental action with zero effort or cost. The search results are comparable to Bing (which powers them). The real innovation is transparency: Ecosia publishes monthly financial reports showing exactly how much revenue was generated, how much went to tree planting, and which projects received funding. For most people, switching their default search engine is the single lowest-effort environmental action with measurable impact.
Key takeaways
- It takes approximately 45 Ecosia searches to fund the planting of one tree, meaning an average user funds 1 to 2 trees per month through normal search behavior.
- Ecosia publishes monthly financial reports showing revenue, costs, and tree-planting disbursements, providing a level of transparency rare in the tech industry.
- The company runs on 200% renewable energy: their solar plants generate twice the electricity their servers consume, feeding the surplus into the grid.