The dot-com suffix at the end of URLs was originally intended to represent companies, just as dot orgs were meant for nonprofit organizations. As the idea of the web has expanded, the list of suffixes, maintained by the nonprofit Internet Corporation of Names and Numbers, which auctions the rights to control each top level domain, now includes a long list, including “web,” “shop,” “app,” “music,” and even “horse.”

Anyone can register for, say, a .horse domain name, even if your site isn’t remotely equine in nature. But communities that believe there’s a specific series of letters that should be set aside just for their web presences can propose exceptions in the name of public interest. Hence the more structured world of .edu (for accredited academic institutions only), .gov (for sanctioned governments) and .ca (for those in Canada). Now there’s one for environmental issues: .eco.

Big Room, a Vancouver-based consultancy, and B-corp has created a pathway for the environmental and sustainability-minded: It’s called the Dot Eco Registry. “What we did was a little bit weird,” says Trevor Bowden, the cofounder of Big Room and the new registration service. “There are lots of examples where registration and the extension is totally open. [But] we thought the only way that this was going to have any trust and credibility around it is if the environmental community was with us, and behind us and engaged in how .eco is run.”

The process started nearly a decade ago when Bowden and cofounder Jacob Malthouse learned that the .eco name might eventually become available. At the time, both worked at the United Nations Environment Program, where they coached banks and financial institutions about how to make environmentally responsible investments. They used their contacts in the community to form the Dot Eco Council, a coalition of a dozen major sustainability and conservation groups including the World Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace and B-Lab in the U.S., Acatu Institute in Brazil, Greenbelt Foundation in Canada, and Development Alternatives in India.

Over about 18 months the group hammered out a set of priorities for the potential registry, the most important of which was transparency. To gain a domain name, all .eco applicants might take a pledge signifying their environmental commitment, and create a profile that highlights what they’re doing in the space.

Its a fairly easy and initially unregulated process. Users can register through any domain name intermediary (say, Name.com or GoDaddy) but before their site goes live they’ll receive an email that redirects them to a mandatory .eco registry page.

Taking the pledge requires a check-the-box agreement “to support positive change for the planet and to be honest when sharing information on environmental actions.” Users must then specify “sustainability priorities” from a menu of different causes, list their current “environmental actions” augmented if possible by links or files, and share “partners” to telegraph alliances, all of which are then publicly viewable. Applications may be reviewed but are not directly policed. It’s up to the community to spot issues and report them.