Whether for personal or professional reasons, we all "Google" our way through the day. This consumes a lot of energy, which is needed by the ever-expanding data centers. However, using Ecosia instead of Google as a search engine offers a way to reduce the environmental impact of digitalization (at least a little).
Ecosia invests 100% of its profits in climate and environmental protection – primarily in tree-planting projects worldwide. In September 2024 alone, Ecosia invested more than €860.000 in tree-planting and other climate protection projects, such as solar power plants and regenerative agriculture. These figures are detailed in Ecosia's monthly financial report, which provides transparent information on monthly revenue and how much of that is allocated to planting new trees and implementing climate protection measures. Ecosia is committed to planting the right trees in the right places: Currently, more than 70 different projects are underway in over 35 countries, working with local experts to plant more than 500 different native tree species to promote biodiversity. Ecosia provides detailed information about the projects it supports on its blog.
How does Ecosia work?
Unlike Google, Ecosia is not a true search engine. Ecosia is a search interface that uses the search algorithms of Bing and Google. The advertisements also come from Microsoft and Google, respectively. Ecosia pays Microsoft a fee for each search query. Revenue—similar to Google—comes from these advertisements. Ecosia only earns money when users click on the ads in the search results.
How secure is my data at Ecosia?
Ecosia aims to protect not only the environment but also its users' data. Therefore, all search queries are encrypted using sophisticated methods and anonymized within one week, preventing the creation and storage of individual user profiles. Furthermore, Ecosia does not sell any data to third-party advertisers.
To be absolutely sure, you can prevent all data collection in the settings. To do this, uncheck the box next to "Personalized search results" in the settings.
Ecosia GmbH is a German company based in Berlin with 20 million users.
How do I use Ecosia?
You can download the Ecosia browser or set Ecosia as your default search engine or homepage in the browser you are using.
Try it!
Your contact person at Arqum: Christian Heinrichs