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eBay wants to help protect the planet in a transparent way. To play a part in this, buyers can make a contribution towards a climate project with their purchase from our partner, South Pole.
All products, purchases and services cause greenhouse gases to be emitted. Climate action projects are designed to avoid CO2 being emitted or to remove CO2 from the atmosphere. Additionally to removing or avoiding CO2 emissions, climate projects contribute to sustainable development and create added value for the local communities along the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. For example, they can help people to access work, clean drinking water and education.
Protecting the health of local families and battling climate change at the same time. This project distributes efficient cookstoves to the Rwandan community to improve their health and living conditions, reduce CO2 emissions and relieve pressure on the surrounding ecosystems.
Further information on the project can be found here.
Protecting part of the Pantanal, the world's largest and most important tropical wetlands. Illegal deforestation, ravaging fires, erosion, flooding and contamination caused by agrochemicals is leaving the land critically degraded. Working with local communities, this project protects and conserves 140,506 hectares, driving conservation by implementing research, eco-tourism, vital monitoring and fire prevention across the Pantanal, as well as promoting environmental education.
Further information on the project can be found here.
Helping to drive the clean energy transition in El Salvador. The project builds and operates a wind farm in the municipality of Metapán, with 15 wind turbines to generate clean electricity to the grid that is equivalent to the demand of about 80,000 homes. At the same time as mitigating the country’s dependency on non-renewable resources, the project helps to build a future-proof sector, creating jobs in the construction phase and upskilling the local workforce for operation and maintenance positions.
Further information on the project can be found here.
South Pole has developed a calculation model to determine the carbon footprint of eBay products, since the range of products is too large and diverse to calculate individually. The model refers to the product categories specific to eBay, but what does that actually mean? The experts at South Pole have defined an “average product” for each category and calculated its emissions. The mode and distance of transport are also very important. South Pole defines fixed values for the logistic-related emissions between eBay sellers and eBay buyers, which are based on assumptions, specifically on the mode of transport with an average truck over 500km. The methodology of the calculations follows existing scientifically tested procedures.
Further information on the model can be found here.
South Pole has created an emission factor database for various materials and products in units of kilograms of CO2. This consists of data from well-founded sources and our own models. South Pole’s model calculates a product’s footprint from “cradle to customer”, meaning from the sourcing of raw materials to the delivery of the item. Due to eBay’s marketplace structure, detailed product information cannot be accessed centrally. Where there was limited data, South Pole made assumptions about the weight and material in the calculation.
More information can be found here.
South Pole is a leading provider of climate protection solutions with over 1,300 experts in more than 30 offices worldwide. Their mission is to bring climate action to everyone on the planet. For more than 17 years they’ve helped both public and private stakeholders to assess and reduce their impact on the climate. South Pole is a science-based company with expertise in climate project development and financing, data collection, climate risk analysis and more.