SAN JOSE, Calif., April 27, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL) today released its third annual Global Impact Report, publishing its environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategies and activities of its global operations for 2019. The Global Impact Report highlights progress PayPal has made to advance financial health, promote an inclusive and diverse workforce, minimize its environmental impact, and work to ensure that its business operates responsibly.
As the company took action to address the impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic, PayPal reaffirmed its commitment to its employees, customers, and communities around the world. The company put measures in place to protect the physical well-being and financial security of its employees through remote working policies and increased paid time off through a Crisis Leave Program. It took steps to help its more than 24 million merchants impacted by COVID-19, including waiving certain fees and deferring repayments on select business loans. Additionally, PayPal supported community relief efforts through new employee giving programs, launched fundraising campaigns around the world through PayPal Giving Fund, and made donations to relief efforts in highly impacted regions. The company also worked with governments and regulatory agencies to efficiently provide loans to small businesses through the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program and distribute government stimulus payments to consumers in the U.S.
"The responsibility of corporations has moved beyond simply delivering shareholder profits. The growing expectation from stakeholders is that companies need to take action to effect positive social and environmental impact. Purpose and profit are becoming increasingly intertwined," said Dan Schulman, president and CEO of PayPal. "Given the challenges the world is facing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are committed to supporting the needs of our employees, customers, and communities and helping them navigate this unprecedented time. Our products and services are perhaps more critical than ever before, and our PayPal community has come together during this crisis to take meaningful action to help the most vulnerable in our society."
PayPal continued to make notable progress on the company's global impact strategy and achieved key milestones. The company completed its first comprehensive ESG materiality and prioritization assessment to identify key non-financial topics that are of greatest importance to the company's mission and its stakeholders. In addition, PayPal further examined how its business activities aligned with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), identifying that it makes a direct, positive contribution to 10 of the 17 goals. Notable examples include ensuring that all men and women have equal rights to economic resources, as well as increasing access to financial services for small-scale industrial and other enterprises, including affordable credit,
PayPal's 2019 Global Impact Report features information across four key priority areas: Social Innovation, Employees & Culture, Environmental Sustainability, and Responsible Business Practices. Key highlights include the following:
- Social Innovation: PayPal contributes to a more inclusive global economy by improving financial health, powering charitable giving, and strengthening its communities. In 2019, PayPal:
- Leveraged the power of its giving platform to process $16 billion in contributions, including well over $10 billion in contributions to charitable causes, from more than 40 million people around the world.
- Utilized the power of its global workforce for good with employee giving and volunteer programs, including more than 43% of employees participating globally in the Kiva lending campaign – empowering ~10,000 entrepreneurs across 36 countries.
- Developed products and services to help individuals and businesses improve their financial health, including the PayPal Commerce Platform and PayPal's business financing solutions, as well as investments in companies driving financial wellness.
- Employees & Culture: PayPal fosters a strong employee-centered culture that is reinforced by its core values of Collaboration, Inclusion, Innovation, and Wellness. During 2019, PayPal:
- Made it a strategic priority to strengthen the financial health of its employees by establishing an Employee Financial Wellness Program. Through this program, PayPal raised wages, expanded benefits, reduced healthcare costs, and gave every employee an ownership stake in the company.
- Maintained 100% pay equity for women globally and ethnic pay parity in the U.S. for the fourth year in a row, and advocated for inclusive public policies such as signing onto amicus briefs in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
- Continued to build a diverse and inclusive workforce through programs such as Conscious Inclusion Training, completed by over 90% of all global employees. PayPal's total diversity in 2019 was 57% globally, and experienced a 6% year-over-year increase in females in tech roles and 12% increase in ethnic minorities at Director+ roles since 2015.
- Environmental Sustainability: PayPal is focused on responsibly managing and reducing its environmental impact. Over the past year, PayPal:
- Matched 65% of the energy in data centers with renewable generation, representing significant progress toward the company's goal of 100% by 2023.
- Made meaningful progress toward setting a Science-Based target to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions that aligns with the Paris Climate Agreement, and joined the United for Paris coalition to reinforce support for meeting the goals set forth in the agreement.
- Brought together passionate employees to volunteer their time and talent to address climate-related issues and develop innovative, sustainable products, including the development and launch of the iZettle Ocean Reader: the world's first card reader made from recycled ocean plastic.
- Responsible Business Practices: PayPal's approach to operating its business is one that is ethical and responsible, including:
- Partnering with organizations to combat global financial crimes, including Polaris to fight and disrupt human trafficking cash flows and the Center on Crime and Community Resilience at Northeastern University and the University of Chicago Crime Lab to better understand the financing mechanisms of illegal firearm sales.
- Continuing to build a strong culture focused on customer privacy and security, including certifying its information security program to ISO 27001 standards.
- Continuing to evaluate it approach to privacy and identify ways to best protect customer data through its eight privacy principles that serve as the basis or enterprise-wide standards for collecting, using, disclosing, storing, securing, accessing, transferring, and processing personal data.
To view and download the 2019 report, please visit PayPal's Global Impact website. While this report features some of PayPal's recent programs, please visit the PayPal Newsroom for ongoing updates, including information on the company's latest efforts to address COVID-19.
About PayPal
PayPal has remained at the forefront of the digital payment revolution for more than 20 years. By leveraging technology to make financial services and commerce more convenient, affordable, and secure, the PayPal platform is empowering more than 300 million consumers and merchants in more than 200 markets to join and thrive in the global economy. For more information, visit paypal.com.
Media Contacts:
Tiffany Peng, tipeng@paypal.com
SOURCE PayPal Holdings, Inc.
