Rethinking how we finance tree-planting
When most people think of Ecosia, they think of trees—and with good reason. Since its launch in 2009, Ecosia has funded the planting of over 230 million trees in more than 35 countries, making it one of the world’s largest private reforestation funders. Built as a search engine that reinvests its profits into climate-positive action, Ecosia became a leading force in nature restoration through a simple yet powerful model: use web searches to fund tree-planting.
They are now expanding their focus, exploring new financing models to create even greater long-term impact.
One of them is called Circular Funding—a regenerative investment model that combines ecological restoration with revenue generation, explicitly tailored to each project’s needs. This model is designed to be more flexible than traditional investments, adapting the repayment schedule to a project’s natural cash flow.
In this post, we explore how Circular Funding works, why Ecosia is using it to scale tree-planting impact, and how organizations can get involved.
Ecosia: Trees, transparency, and purpose
Founded in 2009, Ecosia was created to offer a practical, everyday tool for climate action. As users search the web, Ecosia uses its advertising revenue to fund reforestation projects, focusing on biodiversity hotspots, degraded landscapes, and community-based initiatives. Over time, Ecosia expanded its mission to include investments in renewable energy, full financial transparency, and a legally binding commitment to never sell the company or distribute profits to shareholders.
With a growing global community of users and partners, Ecosia has demonstrated that a tech platform can also be a climate solution—channeling resources to the places and people restoring the Earth.
Where Ecosia and OpenForests unite
At OpenForests, we are proud to support Ecosia’s mission by providing a platform for greater transparency, storytelling, and engagement. Some organizations funded by Ecosia use explorer.land to share real-time, geolocated updates about their tree-planting efforts—from photos and videos to progress reports and landscape insights.This collaboration enables funders, partners, and the wider public to follow the journey of each project on an interactive map, fostering trust and accountability. As Ecosia pioneers new financing models like Circular Funding, explorer.land continues to serve as a bridge between vision and visibility—amplifying the impact of nature-based projects around the world.
What is Circular Funding?
A regenerative approach to financing tree-planting
Circular Funding is Ecosia’s answer to a central challenge in environmental finance: how to create funding models that are both sustainable and scalable. Unlike grant-based models, which rely on one-time donations, Circular Funding is designed to bring a return, still being regenerative and flexible.
Here’s how it works:
- Ecosia invests capital in tree-related projects that also generate revenue.
- The project pays back the investment over time.
- Ecosia reinvests that capital into new tree-planting initiatives.
It’s a circular flow of capital, much like nature itself—designed to regenerate, evolve, and expand. The result is a system where one euro can finance multiple reforestation investments over the years. Furthermore, every investment is designed and adapted according to the project’s cash flows, reducing the project’s financial pressure and sharing the risk. This approach ensures the repayment schedule is tailored to the project’s natural cycles.
Why Ecosia created Circular Funding
Learning from 200 million trees
Over the past decade, Ecosia has become one of the world’s largest private funders of reforestation, primarily through service contracts and with that scale came the valuable insight that some tree planting and restoration actually can be profitable, but the finance available in the market does not match the risks and pace of the activities. Therefore, little return seeking capital enters this market, making it hard for the market to become more cost effective through professionalisation and scaling. Ecosia learned that finance that can follow the rhythm of nature is needed, not forcing nature to follow the rhythm of capital. And the more successful cases we can demonstrate, the higher the appetite from other investors will be to also enter this market.
Flexible investments in action
Types of projects Ecosia is looking for
Ecosia is actively seeking investable projects that combine ecological restoration with financial sustainability. To that extent, Ecosia works on three main business verticals: Agroforestry, Conservation, and Innovation. Instead of relying on carbon credits, Ecosia is prioritizing projects that create tangible, long-term value on the ground. These initiatives are driven by sustainable revenue models that are rooted in biodiversity, local livelihoods, and ecological resilience.
- Agroforestry projects: Sustainable agroforestry systems (SAFs) integrate trees into agricultural production. These models increase biodiversity, sequester carbon, and improve food security—while also generating income for farmers.
- Conservation projects with revenue streams: Projects that generate income while keeping forests standing—such as sustainable non-timber forest products, eco-tourism, or artisanal forest crafts. The goal is to make conservation more profitable than deforestation.
- Innovation enablers: Technologies, tools, or services that enable more trees to grow or survive—such as farmer incubators, climate-smart agriculture tools, or supply chain platforms.
For all verticals, Ecosia always starts its analysis with the same question: How many trees can we grow and protect with this investment?
Real-world examples of Circular Funding projects
Ecosia is already working with a number of pioneering organizations that demonstrate the power of circular finance in tree-planting:
aqysta: A farmer incubator that helps smallholder farmers with production planning, access to inputs, financing, and market connections. Their model increases productivity while promoting agroforestry practices.
Slow – A coffee company that grows, roasts, and distributes agroforestry coffee. Their supply chain is fully traceable, and for every 1 kg of coffee sold, 6 kg of CO₂ are sequestered. A perfect example of tree-planting embedded in a regenerative business model.
asc impact – A sustainable timber company that plants biodiverse forests to produce construction-grade timber. By locking carbon in wood-based buildings and avoiding clear-cuts, they combine climate mitigation with biodiversity.
BioTara supports forest communities in sustainably harvesting and processing forest products, then connects them to mainstream markets at competitive prices. Their model keeps forests standing while supporting local economies.
Circular economy meets ecosystem restoration
Circular Funding is part of a broader shift toward circular economies, where resources are used efficiently and outputs feed back into inputs. Ecosia applies this logic to its capital flows: in traditional funding, money is spent once, while in circular funding, capital is recycled to plant more trees over time.
Because Ecosia doesn’t distribute dividends, there are no “leaks” in this financial ecosystem. All returns are reinvested into mission-aligned projects, making it a truly mission-driven, regenerative, and scale-ready model.
However, true circularity requires an investment that adapts to a project’s needs, so that it works in favor of that project. Unlike traditional loans with rigid, timely repayments, Ecosia’s investments are designed to follow a project’s natural cycles. If a harvest is delayed, the repayment schedule is also delayed. This flexibility ensures the funding is fully integrated into the project’s natural rhythms, creating a truly sustainable system.
Why this matters for tree-planting at scale
Building Resilience and autonomy
Tree-planting must have more tools available if it’s going to meet the demands of the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, and community resilience. Models like Circular Funding represent this additionality:
- Resilience: Projects have their own revenue streams.
- Autonomy: Communities are leading the businesses.
- Alignment: Financial incentives match ecological outcomes.
By including ongoing investment, Ecosia is expanding its capacity to finance long-term landscape-scale restoration.
How to collaborate with Ecosia
Ecosia is currently looking for projects that are in line with this circular model and offers flexible investment to help them thrive. They are looking for:
- Agroforestry ventures
- Nature-based businesses or cooperatives
- Forest conservation projects with a revenue model
- Tech enablers for tree survival and carbon sequestration
If your project is ready to scale with a regenerative funding model, answer Ecosia’s call for projects. Explore a partnership that helps you build long-term value.
Final thoughts: From planting trees to growing systems
Tree-planting today is about more than just counting saplings. It’s about creating lasting systems—ecological, social, and economic—that allow trees and communities to thrive.
With Circular Funding, Ecosia is piloting a powerful new approach: investing in self-sustaining models that can amplify long-term impact. Alongside service contracts, which continue to fund diverse and valuable projects that may not follow a business model, Circular Funding adds another tool to the restoration toolbox.
Together, these financing strategies create a more resilient and inclusive path forward. And we’re excited to see where it leads.
Quick Links
- Plant trees with Ecosia
- Read Ecosia’s latest Financial Report
- Submit your project to Ecosia’s Circular Funding Call
