2022 Impact Report
We are pleased to share the actions we've taken this year to make .eco a force for positive change for the planet.
Introduction
The .eco domain registry was created in partnership with the global environmental community to provide an online identity for individuals, companies, and organizations committed to positive change for the planet.
As a values-aligned, trusted online identity for those at the forefront of the movement to a more sustainable planet, a .eco domain sends an important signal in a noisy world.
We recognize that this work has an impact – through our operations, our infrastructure, and the services we operate.
Our approach to the responsible stewardship of the .eco domain is shared in this year’s Impact Report. In it, you will see evidence of how we aim to:
- Identify and manage the .eco registry’s climate change impacts
- Engage with the broader movement advocating for action on the climate emergency
- Amplify the work of leading .eco community members and engage new members in the community
- Provide tools and resources for .eco registrants to identify and manage their impacts
- Ensure the credibility and trustworthiness of the .eco domain
- Achieve the certifications that provide evidence and verification of our work to manage our impact
Like many of you, we are early in this process and learning as we go. We welcome your feedback on our actions and approach.
2022 Impact Highlights
- Declared a Climate Emergency and committed ourselves to climate action
- Committed to become the world’s first carbon neutral domain registry
- Identified and promoted eco-friendly domain retailers and hosting providers
- Featured 15 .eco champions
- Shared knowledge about eco-friendly technology with the .eco community by publishing and sharing 10 articles
- Promoted 8 environmentally-friendly event days
Climate Action Impact
This year we dedicated ourselves to Climate Action. With the growing scope and scale of climate change-related disasters, we felt the urgency to address the Climate Crisis.
We set a target to become the first carbon neutral domain registry and have been sharing our journey. Here are some of the steps we’ve taken:
- Joined the global movement to address climate change through SME Climate Hub, Race to Zero and Business Declares
- Measured and started reducing our carbon footprint
- Partnered with Inhabit.eco to validate our carbon neutral claims
- Ran a Green Web Check campaign and partnered with the Green Web Foundation to help the .eco community
Community Impact
This year, we have named and featured 15 new .eco champions. This year’s group includes businesses, non-profits and individuals working on everything from sustainable toilet paper and packaging to electric vehicle charging infrastructure and eco-fiction. If you are interested in becoming a .eco champion, please get in touch.
We also have a mission to advise our community in making more eco-friendly choices. By sharing what we learn and working together, we can amplify our impact beyond what any of us can do individually. To this end, this year we have published 10 articles about eco-friendly technology choices and climate action.
Compliance Impact
One of our main responsibilities is to ensure .eco stands for the values of the environmental community upon which it was founded. To counter issues of abuse, misalignment and greenwashing, the .eco profile system creates transparency into intended use of .eco domains and the entities that have registered them. Members of the environmental community and the general public can report .eco profiles or .eco websites that contain inaccurate information that is in violation of our acceptable use policies. When we receive a notification of a potential misuse of a .eco domain, we launch an investigation and, if necessary, contact the registrant to remediate the issue.
This year, we received eight reports that we have subsequently investigated. Four of those involved following up with the domain owner. There have been two cases of .eco domains being suspended.
We are proud that the .eco domain continues to have amongst the lowest levels of abuse in the domain industry.
Impact Plan for 2023
Achieve carbon neutral certification
We made good progress on our goal to be carbon neutral by 2023. The last steps are to purchase offsets to cover our outstanding emissions and complete carbon neutral certification. Our aim is to meet the PAS2060 criteria for being carbon neutral. We are also targeting a 4% reduction in our Scope 3 emissions through improvements in efficiency of our services, while continuing to grow the .eco community.
Renewed B Corp certification
Prior to launching .eco, we successfully completed our B Corp certification. As anyone who has been through B Corp certification knows, it’s quite a bit of work to achieve and maintain. We will be renewing our certification in 2023.
Granting .eco domains
When we launched .eco, we granted .eco domains to many environmental NGOs. The grant secured their name and covered the first year of registration.
In 2023, we will be restarting this programme, making .eco domains available for free or a reduced fee for the first year for eligible environmental organizations where the cost of registration is a barrier to getting a website set up.
Elevating more .eco champions
We are constantly inspired by the great impact work that is being done by the .eco community. We will continue to share and amplify the message of amazing .eco members.
Encouraging eco-friendly digital services
We will continue to serve as a trusted and impartial source of information and recommendations for the .eco community in choosing digital services that have reduced environmental impact. In 2022, 31% of .eco domains are hosted using eco-friendly web hosts. Our target for 2023 is to boost that to 40%.
We recognize and highlight .eco retail partners taking action on sustainability, listing eco-friendly retailers publicly, and identifying them in .eco domain search results. We’ll continue to track this best practice amongst our partners and aim to add five new eco-friendly retailers in 2023.
What do you think?
We are honoured to operate the .eco top-level domain for and on behalf of the global environmental community. Focusing on Climate Action is where we believe we can have the greatest impact. Do you agree? Are there other things that you would like to see the registry work on? If so, drop us a line and let us know.