eBay Green Team - eBay Inc.

eBay Green Team: Encouraging Sustainable Commerce

When eBay seller Shaun Shienfield started knetgolf, he wasn't trying to create a business that was good for the environment. As a teenager, Shaun started going around to golf courses in his native Ontario, Canada, gathering and selling used—or what he calls "experienced"—golf balls. Billions of balls get lost on golf courses every year, and Shaun saw a business opportunity.

Now, knetgolf is a $20 million business and is the world's largest seller of premium recycled golf balls on the web.

This year, knetgolf will sell 10 million "experienced" golf balls on eBay alone. What Shaun didn't realize was that he was also growing one of the greenest businesses around. By cutting down on the need for new balls, knetgolf cuts down on the pollution that comes from manufacturing new golf balls, not to mention the tons of oil-derived plastic and adhesives that go into them. After all, the greenest product out there is often one that already exists.

We believe small actions can make a big difference in the world. And that's what the eBay Green Team is all about: encouraging and empowering individuals to buy, sell and think green every day.

Today, more than 2,300 employees around the world are eBay Green Team members, promoting green business practices within eBay, volunteering in our communities, and supporting environmental legislation.

In early 2009, we invited consumers to join the cause, and in just six weeks, 100,000 people became members of the eBay Green Team. Although it's just a start, we see great things happen when we harness the power of eBay's community of buyers and sellers.

Building a Greener Marketplace

Collaborating more with our buyers and sellers remains an area of opportunity for us. We help our customers make smarter, greener choices by providing thoughtful tools and solutions. For example, in both 2007 and 2008, we offered a seminar for eBay buyers and sellers at eBay Live! about "greening" their businesses.

One of the largest environmental impacts of our business model is the shipping that occurs between sellers and buyers. So, in 2007, we worked with the United States Postal Service to introduce new, environmentally friendly Priority Mail packaging. This co-branded packaging is Cradle-to-Cradle certified, and is available free through the USPS shipping hub on eBay.com.

See ebay.com/greenteam for more on how we're encouraging consumers to shop green.

Greener Campuses

eBay Inc.’s businesses start from a greener place, but we don’t stop there. We are committed to running our business in ways that have less impact on the planet. That’s why we’ve set a goal to reduce our absolute greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent by 2012 over our 2008 emissions.

Measurement for management: For the past three years, eBay Inc. has performed a greenhouse gas emissions inventory covering all Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, and a portion of Scope 3 emissions.
Renewable Energy: In early 2008, PayPal’s headquarters turned on a 650kW solar installation – the largest commercial installation in the city of San Jose California. The 3,248 panels cover more than a football field of roof space take up to 18 percent of that campus’ energy off the grid completely.
Data Centers: eBay’s state-of-the-art environmentally responsible data center in Salt Lake City, now under construction, will showcase the best and most innovative thinking in green data center design, technology, construction and operation.
Energy efficiency and green buildings: eBay’s newest headquarters building in San Jose, Calif., was designed and built to the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Gold standard – the first of its kind in the city.

Partnerships for Change

To guide our efforts and share best practices, we collaborate regularly with nonprofit advocates, government entities, and peer companies through organizations such as Ceres, Business for Social Responsibility, Sustainable Silicon Valley, and the World Resources Institute Green Power Market Development Group.

We also lend our voice to begun to relevant public policy discussions, such as the Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy (BICEP), a coalition of consumer-facing brands in the U.S. advocating for aggressive climate legislation. This builds on our signature of the 2007 Bali Communiqué on Climate Change, the 2008 Poznan Communiqué on Climate Change and the 2009 Copenhagen Communiqué on Climate Change, all calling for a comprehensive, legally binding United Nations framework to address climate change.