World’s first “ultra ecological” search engine launches in the UK
 
Ecocho.co.uk, the world’s first free green search engine that offsets carbon emissions at no cost to the user, launched this week in the UK and 14 countries across the world.
 
Powered by Google and Yahoo, ecocho.co.uk is an Australian initiative designed to fight climate change by sponsoring the planting of up to two trees for every 1000 searches made. Switching to ecocho.co.uk is a simple step towards saving the environment without sacrificing quality search results.
 
Founder of ecocho.com, Tim Macdonald said “In the UK alone, people conduct over 1.5 billion Internet searches a month*. If we can capture just one per cent of that traffic, we will make a significant contribution towards lowering the impact of harmful greenhouse gas emissions.”
 
In Australia, ecocho will purchase carbon-offset credits through the New South Wales Government Greenhouse Gas Abatement Scheme (GGAS) and KPMG will check the acquisition, registration and retirement of the carbon credits.
 
“ecocho.co.uk aims to reinvest 70 per cent of the site’s revenue in carbon-offset credits and as the site progresses, we’ll begin to support similar carbon-offsetting schemes in other states and countries,” said Mr Macdonald.
 
“The search engine is one of the easiest ways people can change their everyday behaviour to make a positive impact on the environment.”
 
To find out more about the initiative and start offsetting your carbon emissions, visit www.ecocho.co.uk
 
* Data supplied by Nielsen Online, MegaView Search, February 2008