What do you think led to this award? What does the high score in this category represent?
Community is at the heart of all our projects. Ecosia plants trees where they are most needed, but the planting itself is only a small part of our tree planting efforts. The survival and care of our trees depends on how much the community values the trees. By working with the communities, the local people who plant the trees are able to have stable employment and generate their own income. They can also use or sell yields from agroforestry systems, for example, for their own use. They then often reinvest in the greening of their region. Both can contribute to stabilizing the political and economic situation in these countries. The people who work in the projects and the newly planted trees can make an incredible difference: The living conditions of the local people are improved, the ecosystems and biodiversity are protected and climate change, is actively combated through the CO2 absorption capacities of the trees.
You also have an impact business model in the category. Can you briefly describe what this means and what it represents?
Since our founding in 2009, our mission has been to create a more environmentally, socially and economically sustainable world. Within this mission, our tree planting efforts, for example, are recognized within the B Lab appointed Impact Business Model “Designed to Give” in the area of society. We then go one step further and have anchored our mission in the company structure. In 2018, our founder Christian Kroll sold his shares to the Purpose Foundation, transforming Ecosia into a purpose-driven company to legally guarantee that no one, including himself, can ever sell or bequeath Ecosia for profit, or use the profits for anything other than the common good. This way, Ecosia can guarantee that our way of doing business will forever serve the good cause. And more and more companies in Germany are now following this philosophy, e.g. within the Purpose movement.
What specific impact have you been able to achieve with the measures in this category? What are you particularly proud of?
We have now planted over 130 million trees in over 30 countries worldwide and inspired many people and companies to follow a similar path with our idea of a charitable search engine. This year we celebrated a huge success when the Android Choice Screen was launched by Google. This was a ‘choice screen’ on Android devices where alternative search engines had to bid in an auction for a place as the default search engine, with only the highest bidders being shown as an option. After initially boycotting the choice screen completely, we later decided, together with other alternative search engines, to put pressure on the European Commission to take action against the anti-competitive nature of the choice screen. For us, the result of these efforts this year was a huge success against anti-competitive behavior and for fairness in the search engine market. Because ultimately, as a non-profit search engine, we want to use our money to plant trees, not to pay other search engines.
What or who made this award possible?
Without our 15 million users worldwide and our tree planting partners. Only through the searches of our growing user community have we been able to plant over 130 million trees and become the environmental movement we are today. Every single person who searches with us contributes to our tree counter constantly counting upwards. Just as important, of course, are our project partners who implement and help shape the projects, as well as the local communities who are fighting to preserve their ecosystems.
Finally, what are 3 words that define the B Corp movement for you?
social, sustainable, together.
About Ecosia
Ecosia, headquartered in Berlin, is the largest non-profit search engine in the world and was founded in 2009 by Christian Kroll. To date, it has planted over 130 million trees in more than 30 countries worldwide, including Spain, India, Burkina Faso, Australia, Brazil and Indonesia. Since 2017, Ecosia has been building solar plants in Germany to ensure that the global server power for search queries can be offset with renewable energy. The solar plants now produce 200% of its own energy consumption in the form of renewable energy. Monthly financial reports provide a transparent view of income and expenditure. More information at www.ecosia.org
About “Best for the World™ Each year, B Lab recognizes the top performing B Corps. “Best for the World” is the award given to a B Corp-certified company when it ranks in the top 5% globally in its respective size group in one of five impact areas: community, customers, environment, governance and employees. These companies demonstrate that they have successfully integrated the three pillars of sustainability and, as “the best for the world”, are at the forefront of a movement that is driving the transformation of business to a stakeholder-oriented and inclusive economy. This interview previously appeared on Karry Schwettmann’s blog
