The Open University, which is headquartered in Milton Keynes, has become the largest university in the UK to support global tree-planting through its everyday internet searches after switching to Ecosia as its default search engine.
Following a successful pilot, the university rolled out Ecosia across the organisation in November. In the first two months of full adoption, searches carried out by staff helped fund the planting of an estimated 7,500 trees. That environmental impact is roughly equivalent to eight football pitches of new woodland.
Ecosia is a not-for-profit search engine that uses advertising revenue to finance tree-planting projects around the world. As a result, every search made by staff contributes directly to climate and biodiversity projects, without requiring changes to daily working habits.
The Milton Keynes-based institution employs around 10,000 staff supporting its global online learning operation. Therefore, the scale of its digital activity means even small changes can have a significant environmental effect. The switch to Ecosia forms part of a wider push to embed sustainability into routine digital tools used across the organisation.
Professor Klaus-Dieter Rossade, executive dean for the Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies and executive sponsor for sustainability at the Open University, said the decision reflects growing awareness of the environmental impact of digital working. “With around 10,000 staff supporting The Open University’s world-leading online learning, we are conscious of the environmental impacts of our digital footprint,” he said. “Switching to Ecosia is enabling us to embed sustainability further into our everyday working patterns. We look forward to continuing to support Ecosia’s tree-planting work all over the world.”
The move follows progress in the Open University’s wider sustainability performance. Recently, the institution climbed from 62nd place to inside the top 40 of the People & Planet University League for the first time. The league table is the UK’s only comprehensive and independent ranking of universities based on environmental and ethical criteria.
Ecosia currently supports tree-planting projects in more than 35 countries, focusing on climate resilience, biodiversity restoration and community benefits. Each search generates a small amount of advertising revenue, which is reinvested directly into planting and protecting trees.
Fred Henderson from Ecosia said the partnership shows how large organisations can make meaningful climate contributions through simple operational changes. “We’re delighted to welcome The Open University to a global community of organisations taking climate action with Ecosia,” he said. “By making the switch, the OU is embedding sustainability into its digital tool stack and supporting our tree-planting work in over 35 countries. The impact of our partnership has already helped to finance an estimated 7,500 trees, and that’s after just a few months.”
For Milton Keynes, the move reinforces the Open University’s position as both a major regional employer and a sustainability leader, demonstrating how local institutions can contribute to global environmental goals through everyday digital decisions.
