Till now the main purpose of domains was to just serve Web pages, but from now they will contribute in saving the environment also.
The introduction of a new Top Level Domain (TLD) called .eco in the arena of website domain names will aggregate the environmental information about organizations and individuals. According to the Backers of .eco, “.eco domain is established for individuals who want to express their support for environmental causes, for companies to promote their environmental initiatives, and for environmental organizations to maintain their websites in a namespace that is more relevant to their core missions.”
In order to make it a trust mark for environmental and sustainability information, the .eco domain name is being proposed to ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). It is being considered as a part of a new expansion of domain names which are set to occur in 2010.
The .eco site would be the place where the companies would aggregate all of their green information. All the pertinent eco-information that companies want to reveal about themselves or their products will be now available with their products having an eco label and their registration with .eco domain. Another kind of information could include membership information in environment organizations or efforts as well as the potential information regarding the use of energy.
The .eco TLD isn’t just being proposed for big vendors only, it will be useful for small business and individuals also. As millions of small businesses are looking for a framework that could exhibit their environment progress, .eco could work as that framework. Additionally, .eco will be helpful for individuals to track their own environmental activities and footsteps.
Leading environmental activist Al Gore recently revealed his backing for the proposed introduction of .eco by announcing his support for a new social venture called Dot Eco LLC, which aims to secure the .eco top level domain.