Christian Kroll

For the first time in history, bees have legal rights.

In the Peruvian Amazon, stingless bees have been recognised as legal subjects — with the right to thrive and to be protected from harm.

They pollinate more than 80% of the rainforest’s flora, and they've been cultivated by Indigenous communities for generations.

They've also been declining due to pesticides, deforestation, and competition from invasive honeybees.

But until now, they had no legal protections at all.

👉 This new legal status changes that. It finally puts these native bees on the legal map, requiring governments to create policies for their survival, support scientific research, regulate pesticides, restore their habitats, and act when the bees are threatened.

It’s a world first for insect protection — and an important shift in how we safeguard the species that keep ecosystems alive.

Story via: https://lnkd.in/dV9Bceyp

#bees #insects #Amazonforest

Ecosia is seeking a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to help us build technology that benefits our planet and creates meaningful alternatives to Big Tech. 🌍 Please share if you know great candidates.

https://lnkd.in/dfkH_kqi

Today, Ecosia is taking an important step in Japan 🇯🇵

We’ve just launched our search interface in Japanese for the rollout of choice screens under the new Mobile Software Competition Act (MSCA). For the first time, millions of mobile users in Japan will be actively prompted to choose their default search engine, not just accept the preset option.

This matters.

For too long, digital monopolies have limited real competition and user choice. The MSCA is a pivotal moment. It opens the market, empowers users, and creates space for smaller, mission-driven players to compete on values, not just scale.

Japan is already an important community for Ecosia, with around 1 million searches every week. And as the climate crisis accelerates, from record-breaking heat to extreme weather, many people are feeling concerned, but also overwhelmed about how to act.

At Ecosia, we try to make climate action simple and part of everyday life. We’re the only search engine that dedicates 100% of its profits to the planet. We’ve planted over 240 million trees globally, run on renewable energy, and exist to prove that tech can work in service of people and nature.

If you’re in Japan, switching your search engine is now easier than ever, and it’s a small choice that can have a big impact.

Fairer competition. Real user choice. Climate action built into daily habits.

This is what a better digital future can look like.

The year may be ending, but this work is not.

We’re continuing our campaign for a Climate Nobel Prize in 2026, with the ambition of seeing climate action recognized at next year’s Nobel ceremony.

As more voices join the chorus, we’re determined to make this bid impossible to ignore.

We’ll keep you updated.

—

“Thirty years ago I would probably have said that a new prize is not needed, but now, when the climate crisis is growing all around us, it has become science’s greatest challenge -one that deserves to be highlighted every December. Those who do good work should be honored, regardless of the discipline they come from. Climate is important enough that the time has come.

I hope that they do not prioritize an Economics Prize over a Climate Prize, given the seriousness of the climate crisis and the fact that the climate crisis is, in part, a consequence of the current economic paradigm.”

- Alasdair Skelton
Professor of geochemistry and petrology at Stockholm University & Chair of the climate researcher network Researcher’s Desk

Meat is still subsidised in most of Europe. That’s a climate policy failure.

A new study from PIK - Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research shows that ending tax cuts on meat could reduce the environmental footprint of EU food consumption by 3 to 6%.

Meat causes more climate and environmental damage than any other food we eat.

And yet, 22 out of 27 EU countries still tax it less than most other products.

Fixing this would cut 29.9 megatons of CO₂e per year (about 5% of food-related emissions) while also reducing pressure on biodiversity, water, and ecosystems.

Governments have a choice: they can keep making environmental damage cheaper, or start making the planet a priority.

Story via https://lnkd.in/eEgnRVjX

Some of you may have seen recent press coverage about our proposal to fund a Climate Nobel Prize.

As expected, the Nobel Foundation has pointed to its long-standing policy on new prize categories in response. I see this response as a clarification of policy, not an evaluation of the idea itself.

Importantly, this is not the end of the conversation.

The Nobel framework has evolved before — most notably with the Economics Prize — while staying true to Alfred Nobel’s aim of recognizing work that delivers “the greatest benefit to humankind”.

At a time when climate change and declining planetary health threaten peace, prosperity, and well-being, I believe it’s both reasonable and necessary to keep exploring how Nobel’s vision can be realized today.

I’m confident that a deeper dialogue will follow once the proposal can be reviewed in more detail. Broad public support will play an important role.

If you’d like to help keep the conversation going:
- share your thoughts in the comments
- post on your own channel using #ClimateNobelPrize
- or invite us to speak at an event or on your platform

Thanks to everyone engaging thoughtfully so far — I really appreciate your perspectives.

Thank you! Our €1M offer to help establish a Climate Nobel Prize has sparked incredible global resonance. It shows that the moment is right to put climate action at the top of the global agenda.

A question I’ve heard a few times is: Why not just support existing climate prizes?

These prizes matter, and we’ve supported several of them.

But here’s the truth: Only a Nobel Prize has the prestige, visibility, and cultural force to shift the world’s priorities at scale.

A Climate Nobel Prize wouldn’t just reward extraordinary work. It would redefine what the world values. That’s the kind of systemic reset this moment demands.

And crucially, a Nobel Prize transcends sectors, borders, and political lines. It reaches far beyond the environmental space. It’s something all of humanity can get behind. That’s why we made this offer.

The Nobel tradition has evolved before. It can evolve again.

Let’s make climate action impossible to ignore.

https://lnkd.in/ectm3aFM

A year with Ecosia (in numbers) 📊

Once again, this year the Ecosia community proved that everyday choices can reshape our future.

That looks like:
• 33 million trees planted
• 1,800 tree species protected, including 152 vulnerable
• 20,000 hectares of land restored
• 7,000 local jobs supported
• Impact across 38 countries
• 16 new partners and expansion into 5 new countries
• Nearly €5M invested in renewable energy and regenerative agriculture
• €1M committed toward a Climate Nobel Prize
• 100% of profits reinvested into climate action — always

This is what happens when technology serves people and planet, not profit 🌎

And it’s only the beginning. See you in 2026.