Goals & Progress

2020 Goals

Opportunity for All

Goal

Achieve a higher percentage of growth among eBay sellers in less-advantaged communities as compared with average economic growth nationwide by 2020.

Progress

2018
• Launched Retail Revival program in five cities
• From 2011 to 2016, the number of eBay’s commercial sellers in less-advantaged communities grew 18 percent compared to a 0.4 percent decrease in the overall number of business enterprises in those communities

2017
• Established Retail Revival program
• Technology improvements to enhance the buyer and seller experience; increase efficiency, scalability, and security
• Clarified goal, established baseline and criteria for tracking progress

eBay for Charity

Goal

$1 billion in charity funds raised by 2020

Progress

2018
• Raised $102 million in charity funds
• Total reaches $911 million raised

2017
• Raised $84 million in charity fund
• Total reaches $810 million raised

eBay Foundation

Goal

Lend $1 million to entrepreneurs via Kiva by 2020. Enable 50,000 entrepreneurs through access to capital and mentoring, and thereby impact the lives of 250,000 people globally.

Progress

2018
• Disbursed $285,000 in loans in 2018, bringing our total loan disbursement to $682,000 and supporting 23,000 borrowers on Kiva
• Impacted the lives of over 116,000 people globally

2017
• Disbursed $397,000 in loans and supported over 17,000 borrowers on Kiva, including 14,000 female entrepreneurs
• Impacted the lives of about 85,000 people globally

Circular economy

Goal

Create $2.5 billion in positive economic impacts and avoid 2.5 million metric tons of carbon emissions by 2020 through people selling their pre-owned electronics and apparel on eBay.

Progress

2018
• Created an additional $700 million in positive economic impact, bringing the cumulative total to $2 billion from 2016 to 2018
• Avoided an additional half a million metric tons of carbon emissions, resulting in 1.7 million metric tons since 2016

2017
• Created $1.3 billion in positive economic impacts from 2016 to 2017
• Avoided 1.2 million metric tons of carbon emissions since 2016

2025 Goals

Renewable energy

Goal

Source 100 percent renewable energy in our electricity supply by 2025 for eBay-controlled data centers and offices.

Progress

2018
• 50 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources, up from 45 percent in 2017

2017
• 45 percent of our electricity supply comes from renewable sources, down from 46 percent in 2016

Carbon emissions

Goal

Achieve 50 percent absolute reduction in Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 2025 and 75 percent reduction by 2030 from our 2016 baseline

Progress

2018
• Scope 1 and 2 emissions decreased by 6 percent from 2016 baseline

2017
• Scope 1 and 2 emissions increased by 2 percent

Notes on our goals

Goals have a baseline of 2016

Opportunity for All

Growth in number of enterprises is based on data from 1,250 US counties that are considered to be “at risk” or “distressed” as defined by the Economic Innovation Group’s 2017 Distressed Communities Index .
The date range of 2011 to 2016 is utilized here because more current data was not available at the time of publication of this report.
eBay (2018) “Platform-Enabled Small Business Formation as a Counterweight Against Forces of Economic Concentration .”
eBay (2019) “United States Small Online Business Trade and Inclusive Growth Report .” (To be released in May 2019).

eBay Foundation

Goal aligns with five-year commitment to Kiva.

Circular Economy

For this estimate, the number of pre-owned items sold in 2018 via consumer selling on eBay, and the USD value of these items, were collected for electronics and fashion categories for North America and the UK markets.
We assumed that buying a pre-owned item from eBay avoids the need for an equivalent new item to be produced. This new item is “avoided” and all of the environmental impacts associated with making it are also avoided.
To account for differences in quality and lifetime between new and pre-owned items, an adjustment factor was used. This was estimated to be approximately 40 percent, or 2.5 pre-owned products are needed to displace one new product.
Published environmental impact data were collected for the production of new items, matching eBay product categories as closely as possible.
Environmental impact data per item were then multiplied by the number of sold items to calculate the amount avoided impact for each listing category and overall for electronics and fashion in 2018. These results were then projected for the years out to 2020 using forecasted growth in those markets.
The financial savings to the buyer from purchasing pre-owned rather than new products were estimated using a similar approach.

Carbon Emissions

The Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions reduction goal was developed using science-based target setting best practices and is in line with emissions trajectories that keep global warming within 1.5 degrees Celsius based on the Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5˚ C (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2018 ).