🌳 Ecosia
A search engine that plants trees. 168 million so far.
👋 Welcome to all new subscribers! Excited to have you here.
The more I research about those companies and people doing good, the more guilty I feel about my past actions. Being aware of that is the best I can do for a better future.
⚠️ Message from the editor (this might gain your attention lol)
I really appreciate your support here and want to make the best of your time. So, if you have a 1-minute spare, I have 3 quick questions for you:
1. What would you like to see less in this newsletter?
2. What would you like to see more?
3. What companies and/or industries would you like to see here?
Thank you.
🧐 Around the web
Before we jump on this week’s article, I want to share some interesting things I found.
🎵 Listen to Spotify. Plant trees.
⛷️ Alpine tourism in the face of climate crisis
🌲 The surprising downsides to planting trillions of trees
🌊 How The Ocean Cleanup started
Now, on to this week’s article.
🌰 Good business in a nutshell
Company • Ecosia
Areas of Impact • Climate Change
Saving the world • Over 168 million trees planted
How they started • Two failed attempts were the inspiration
What they do • Search engine
Impact model • Income generated off of ads is used to plant trees
How they make money • Ads on search results
Revenue • €36 million in 2022 (estimated)
Who started everything • Christian Kroll
Women are the driving force behind many of our reforestation projects. By planting trees, they can grow their own food and become financially independent from their husbands.
📖 The long version
🧩 Problems with deforestation
Responsible for up to 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Deforestation has led to a 20% reduction in the Amazon Forest's ability to absorb carbon dioxide.
Net loss of 10 million hectares of forest per year, leading to significant soil erosion and land degradation.
If you see a problem, try and solve it. That mindset is more important now than ever. — Christian Kroll
🌎 Saving the world
900+ species planted
💡 How they started | How they are going
Two failed attempts to make Internet money led Christian Kroll to create in 2009 Ecosia: a search engine that plants trees using revenue from ads.
On his first attempt, he was spending most of the revenue from his broker comparison website with Google Ads. A search engine that generated funds for NGOs was his second attempt.
His next step was to stay in South America for 10 months, where he experienced the effects of deforestation. Back in Germany, Ecosia was born.
💰 Let’s talk money
Revenue €34 million in 2022 - source Ecosia financial report
50% of the revenue in Dec 2022 was directed to planting trees
No one will ever take any profit from Ecosia. The company will never be sold.
☄️ Impact Model
Clicks on ads generate revenue. Part of this revenue, around 50%, is used to plant trees.
if everyone switched from Google to Ecosia, we could plant 300 billion trees — every year - Ecosia Blog
📦 The product
0.3% of search engine market share
500,000 million searches each month
20 million monthly active users, mainly in Europe
Ecosia launched in 2009, using search results provided by Bing and Yahoo and ads delivered by Yahoo, as part of their revenue share agreement.
The climate-related features are their differential.
Ecosia shows an estimation of how many trees you have helped plant.
The green leaf icon and the fossil fuel icon were launched in 2019, to help people make climate-conscious decisions.
Then next, they introduced the environmental impact of countries.
2022 was the time to introduce the climate pledge rating, which evaluates in an A-F grade, how a company is tackling the climate crisis.
The data for those 4 indicators come from accredited organisations like B-Corp, The Global Coal Exit List, Technical University Berlin and Climate Action Tracker.
😍 Moments that are worth all the efforts
How Acacia Senegal trees change the lives and roles of women in a Sudanese village
💪 Join the cause
https://explore.ecosia.org/jobs
🎬 Who started everything
Christian Kroll