Cooking and eating green thanks to Ecosia

“Help Ecosia users identify climate-friendly food options in search results.” The Berlin-based start-up Ecosia approached a team of students from HPI d-school with this challenge. The goal was to further develop the search engine in such a way that it encourages users to consume environmentally friendly food. It was particularly important to design a tool that could be seamlessly integrated into the search engine and had an appealing visual design.

The Berlin-based search engine Ecosia has a strong climate-friendly mission: Most of its advertising revenue is used to plant trees and fund ecological projects around the world. With over 240 million trees planted to date, Ecosia has established itself as a green alternative to conventional search engines. The start-up's team is always looking for new ways to leverage its potential, but its staff resources are limited. That's why it is crucial that new tools can be easily integrated into the existing platform.

As part of the Design Thinking project, students at the HPI d-school spoke to young people about their nutrition. They learned that many of them are inspired by recipes they find online. Moreover, many are conscious of eating in an environmentally friendly way, but often feel overwhelmed and would like clear information about which foods are actually climate-friendly. 

The team also spoke with experts in behavioral psychology. The students saw the key to the success of their prototype in the nudging technique: With the help of images or similar incentives, users are encouraged to change their behavior. 

Based on these valuable insights, the team developed the “Planet Plates” prototype: a tool that suggests climate-friendly recipes to users. Specifically, this means that for every food-related search on Ecosia, several similar, climate-friendly recipes are displayed above the actual search results. Appealing images create an incentive for more climate-friendly cooking without interfering with the users' searches. It is also worth mentioning that this is done ethically, i.e., users are provided with transparent information on the nudging techniques employed.

Our diet has a considerable impact on annual greenhouse gas emissions, thus making Ecosia's commitment to promoting climate-friendly food options all the more important. 

With the student team's prototype, Ecosia now has a tool that can be easily integrated into the existing software and is visually appealing. With the help of appetizing images, “Planet Plates” makes use of the positive effects of nudging techniques. Instead of being intrusive or judgmental, the prototype discreetly provides users with concrete suggestions for a more climate-friendly diet. Last but not least, the tool helps people obtain specific information about climate-friendly foods so that they feel less overwhelmed.