Founded only 15 years ago, eBay is the world's largest online marketplace. eBay enables over 90 million users to buy and sell almost anything: "Whatever it is, you can get it on eBay."

Last year, $60 billion worth of goods transacted -- $2,000 every second. eBay's business model enables the recycling of goods -- cars, electronics, vintage and vogue fashion. In 2007, Libby Reder and 39 co-workers launched the Green Team to help eBay "go greener." Their mission: "Inspiring the world to buy, sell and think green every day "

GreenBiz.com's Heather King talks with CEO John Donahoe about sustainable commerce, the importance of authenticity, his buzz on Bloom fuel cells, and helping his mother clean out her closets.

Are eBay employees still the primary driver for eBay's green strategy, or are your users becoming more of a factor?

Yes and yes. Although eBay employees started the conversation about greening our plant and our operations, that conversation has expanded into our user community.

Our Green Team started small and local. It is now global. Last year, the 2,400 employee members invited buyers and sellers to join. Already, 225,000 have opted in.

What does it take to join eBay's Green Team? Do you have guidelines or requirements for members?

Consumers don't like to be told what to do; they like to discover it for themselves. The Green Team enables communication in our user community. It helps concerned buyers evaluate and select more sustainable products. It helps concerned sellers become greener merchants. The heartening thing is that this field has become mainstream.

Some online retailers, like Amazon, provide consumers information about the greenhouse gas impact of their business. eBay has researched GHG savings, and even savings of specific items. I don't see this data posted.

Amy Skoczlas Cole, the leader of our environmental strategy, feels strongly that leading companies have authenticity, and that it is more important to 'do' than 'talk.'

eBay is inherently a more sustainable commerce model. We enable a marketplace for recycled goods and we keep customers from having to get in cars and shop at a brick and mortar, all of which make for a carbon intensive shopping experience. Pierre [Omidyar, the founder of eBay] saw online retail as a business opportunity. Yet, eBay's model is inadvertently green. This puts us further down the sustainability curve. But we try to maintain humility, keep learning and share our best practices.

Initially, we shared what we learned from making our building one of the greenest in Silicon Valley. We shared what we learned by working with the USPS about hassle free, flat rate shipping.

Now, we are ready to play a greater role in educating people. We are exploring ways to encourage greener buying behaviors in the context of our "free market' system.