.eco

Overview

• .eco is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) intended for environmentalists and environmentally conscious organisations and individuals.
• Operated by Big Room Inc. (a certified B Corporation) and advised by a council of environmental organizations.
• The registry supports DNSSEC.

History

• .eco was delegated by IANA on August 29, 2016 with Big Room Inc. as the sponsoring organization.
• General public availability (general availability) began on April 25, 2017.
• The application and delegation process was highly contested: multiple applicants (Big Room Inc., Donuts/Little Birch, planet.ECO LLC, Top Level Domain Holdings) competed for the string.
• Big Room sought and passed a Community Priority Evaluation (CPE) awarded by the Economist Intelligence Unit on October 6, 2014.
• Independent review and accountability processes followed; an IRP final declaration was issued February 12, 2016 and adopted by the ICANN Board in March 2016 (reconfirmed May 27, 2016).
• Big Room operates the registry under an ICANN registry agreement and launched .eco to the public in April 2017.

Usage and Audience

• Target audience includes businesses, governments, non-profits and individuals working toward a sustainable future and environmental causes.
• Registrants are encouraged to link from their .eco websites to public .eco profiles to increase transparency about who is behind a domain and what sustainability goals they pursue.
• The registry and advisory council positioned the TLD to serve environmental organizations and to foster credible communications about environmental actions.

Registration Rules

• Two-stage activation process:
  • After registration a .eco domain is initially placed on hold.
  • Registrants receive an activation email inviting them to complete a public profile and make a pledge.
  • The pledge statement (as used by the registry) reads: "We pledge to support positive change for the planet and to be honest when sharing information on environmental actions." Registrants also select a number of sustainable development goals or "areas of sustainability" they will focus on.
  • Profile data and pledge information are aggregated and publicly viewable (e.g., via profiles.eco).
• Purpose of activation: designed with environmental organizations to reduce disinformation and abuse and to promote transparency.
• Enforcement: the registry reserves the right to suspend or take down domains that contravene the pledge; policies and enforcement processes are described by the registry.
• Launch phases (as implemented at launch):
  • Sunrise (Trademark Clearinghouse end-date): February 1–April 2, 2017
  • Early Access Program: April 18–25, 2017
  • General Availability: April 25, 2017
• Domain Granting Program: Big Room announced grants of up to 500 domains reserved for environmental non-profits (a permanent reserved list for community use); hundreds of organizations participated in identifying names for reservation.

SEO and Brand Impact

• .eco's mandatory public profile and pledge aim to increase transparency and trustworthiness for sites using the TLD, and to reduce greenwashing and misinformation by making registrant commitments public.
• Community-priority designation and involvement of major environmental organizations were positioned to lend credibility to the namespace among environmental audiences.
• The registry's ability to suspend domains that violate the pledge adds an enforcement mechanism that can affect brand trust for sites using .eco.

Notable Cases or Examples

• planet.ECO trademark litigation: planet.ECO filed a trademark suit related to the .eco applications; aspects of the litigation were dismissed and subsequent USPTO cancellation actions were filed and dismissed without prejudice.
• European Commission communiqué: the European Commission flagged a set of gTLD applications (including .eco) for potential compatibility issues with EU legislation; Big Room engaged in dialogue and updated its Public Interest Commitments accordingly.
• Economic Cooperation Organization complaint: the ECO expressed disapproval of .eco applications to ICANN outside of formal GAC processes.
• Community Priority Evaluation and appeals: Big Room's CPE success (Oct 6, 2014) led to reconsideration requests and independent review processes; the IRP final declaration upheld Big Room's CPE result and the ICANN Board adopted the declaration in 2016.
• Grants and reserved names: a program to grant and reserve up to 500 domain names for environmental non-profits was announced as part of the registry's community commitments.

% IANA WHOIS server
% for more information on IANA, visit http://www.iana.org
% This query returned 1 object

domain:       ECO

organisation: Big Room Inc.
address:      1231 Pacific Boulevard, Suite 581
address:      Vancouver BC V6Z 0E2
address:      Canada

contact:      administrative
name:         Registry Policy and Compliance
organisation: Big Room Inc.
address:      1231 Pacific Boulevard, Suite 581
address:      Vancouver BC V6Z 0E2
address:      Canada
phone:        16046826673
e-mail:       iana-contact@bigroom.eco

contact:      technical
name:         Fury Registry Services
organisation: Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA)
address:      979 Bank Street, Suite 400
address:      Ottawa ON K1S 5K5
address:      Canada
phone:        +1-613-237-5335
fax-no:       +1 215.706.5701
e-mail:       support@fury.ca

nserver:      A.NS.NIC.ECO 185.159.197.4 2620:10a:80aa:0:0:0:0:4
nserver:      B.NS.NIC.ECO 185.159.198.4 2620:10a:80ab:0:0:0:0:4
nserver:      C.NS.NIC.ECO 2a0e:dbc0:0:0:0:0:0:101 45.142.220.101
nserver:      D.NS.NIC.ECO 185.159.199.4 2620:10a:80ac:0:0:0:0:4
ds-rdata:     20969 8 2 d64fde1cc6a5c7a2aef1b29a4fbd00c294129c64506af54a3df182c9e658c66c

whois:        whois.nic.eco

status:       ACTIVE
remarks:      Registration information: https://go.eco

created:      2016-08-18
changed:      2025-02-28
source:       IANA