Today, we’re going to talk about Ecosia, a German browser and search engine that everyone can use as an alternative to Chrome/Google or Edge/Bing. But first, let’s see how the necessity to Buy European can also help our current struggle against climate change and support the European Green Deal.
In May last year, Carbone 4, a consultancy company specialised in low-carbon strategy and adaptation to climate chance, took a closer look at what the impact would be on Europe’s carbon footprint if European public purchasing were subject to a “Buy European and Sustainable Act”
By introducing this directive, they first wanted to “understand to what extent [it] could accelerate the low carbon transition and resilience of some European economic sectors”, as public procurement is responsible for 10% of the total carbon footprint of the EU.
The climate gains were sign as significant. However two hypothetical years, it would have enabled:
- +64% of total EU carbon footprint reduction
- 30% reduction on the EU public procurement carbon footprint in the scope of the study
- 9% reduction on the total EU public procurement carbon footprint
- EUR 6 Bn annual sales increase for EU companies
- EUR 86 Bn mobilised annually for the rise of green activities through EU public procurement
- 30 000 additional jobs in the EU
To understand their methodolody, feel free to download their full report here.
Buying European reduce our carbon footprint, protect the environement, create jobs and nurture a better jobs for future generations. This is why we decided to talk about Ecosia this week.
Launched in December 2009, Ecosia is a search engine and web browser that uses 100% of its profits to support tree-planting projects and environmental sustainability initiatives.
As of 2024, Ecosia has planted over 200 million trees in more than 35 countries, contributing significantly to reforestation efforts worldwide. Committed to transparency, the company is publishing monthly financial reports and ensure that its operations are powered by renewable energy.
While Ecosia’s search engine combines results from various sources, it features Quality of Life features such as a built-in ad blocker and a climate pledge rating for companies. The Ecosia browser, based on the Chromium engine, enhances user privacy by not tracking searches or creating user profiles.
Unfortunately, Ecosia is using sources such as Google and Bing for its search engine, and its browsers is based on Chromium. With that said, Ecosia is actively acting on reducing this reliance, now partnering with Qwant, a French search engine, to create the European Search Perspective, aiming to improve search engine results based on Qwant technologies, develop a foundation for future technologies and build European digital sovreignty.
Are you interested? Discover their browser here or set up their search engine using their guidelines there. Thank you for reading and see you next week!
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