eBay is Carbon Neutral Since 2007, Why? 1,000 Passionate Green Employees

Found this press release on eBay’s Green team.  I’ve always believed Green efforts are more credible when coming from the grassroots of employees who want to make a difference.

The eBay Green Team initiative grew out of a grassroots effort begun in 2007 by a small group of passionate eBay employees who wanted to put their environmental values to work. Today, more than 1,000 eBay employees in 18 countries are Green Team members, supporting environmental causes in their local communities and championing sustainable business practices within eBay. When the company needed more office space, the Green Team led eBay to construct the first building built to LEED Gold Standards in San Jose, CA, featuring the city's largest solar panel installation. eBay has also been a carbon neutral company since 2007 through commitments to energy efficiency, alternative power, green buildings and carbon offsets, thanks to efforts by the eBay Green Team.

The last sentence is little known.  eBay has been carbon neutral since 2007.  Why? What is the business justification? Try stopping 1,000 passionate green employees who want to make a difference and think their company should be carbon neutral.

Curious I went to one of my earliest blog entries on eWaste which was about eBay’s rethink web site.  In that entry the list of companies on eBay’s rethink site were.

Apple, Best Buy,Circuit City, Dell, HP, Motorola, Nokia, Toshiba, UPS, USPS, Verizon.

Now the list has grown.

*One bug, don’t know quite what defines new, but the list had BestBuy, Circuit City, and Toshiba on the web site in 2007, and Mar 2009, the companies are still listed as new.