By Logan Green, co-founder and CEO of Lyft
Read our report here.
My work is personal. When John and I founded Lyft in 2012 to improve people’s lives with the world’s best transportation, we knew we had a responsibility to create lasting value for our communities. We have always focused our efforts on delivering the economic, social, and environmental benefits of redesigning our cities around people — not cars — and making seamless, affordable transportation available to all by eliminating transportation as a barrier to upward mobility.
We believe that focusing on purpose and people isn’t just the right thing to do in the short-term, but it will provide an enduring positive impact. Regularly evaluating that impact is essential to holding ourselves accountable, which is why today we’re sharing our first environmental, social and governance (ESG) report. The report will be released annually and designed to reflect on what we’ve delivered and outline the work that lies ahead. In order to execute our mission, we must deliver for all of our stakeholders - including drivers and riders, as well as partners, shareholders, and policymakers. This drives our work on a wide range of issues, including transportation access and equity, economic mobility, and sustainability.
The environment: By transforming how consumers access transportation, we can play a large role in driving carbon out of the transportation ecosystem. Today, we’re already making green transportation options available, including electric vehicles (EVs), bikes and scooters. And we’ve made an ambitious commitment to reach 100% EVs on the Lyft platform by 2030, which has the potential to avoid tens of millions of metric tons of greenhouse emissions and to reduce gasoline consumption by more than a billion gallons over the next decade. Our ESG report also includes a detailed review of our environmental footprint, which underscores the significance of our EV plans.
Economic impact: Since Lyft was founded, millions of drivers have turned to Lyft for earning opportunities. We’re committed to creating reliable and flexible ways for drivers, 90% of whom drive less than 20 hours a week. Further, because access to transportation is one of the biggest drivers of social and economic mobility, we’re also focused on making transportation more accessible and equitable -- 40% of Lyft rides in the US start or end in low-income areas and we served over 500,000 riders who reported living with a disability in 2019.
Social impact: In times of crisis, Lyft is a critical lifeline for communities in need. In 2019, we launched our LyftUp program, a collection of high-impact initiatives that help to bridge transportation gaps in underserved communities by connecting people with critical resources (food, jobs, voting) through free or discounted car, bike, or scooter rides. In response to the COVID-19 crisis, we've activated more than 500 nonprofit partners through LyftUp to provide free rides to those who need them most, including a focus on communities of color.
Corporate governance: Above all else, Lyft is focused on doing the right thing, and that includes our corporate stewardship. We value independence and diversity on our board of directors, are dedicated to upholding human rights, and committed to running our business in an ethical way.
Our core business is focused on making transportation a positive force in cities and for their residents across North America. In the future, we envision that cities will have far fewer cars, more green space, less carbon pollution, better infrastructure for bikes and scooters, safer streets, greater equity, and more economic opportunity. These are the results that propel Lyft forward, and our business strategy is centered on making investments in our community of riders and drivers, our cities, and our team for the long term.
Lyft is a company of values that are steeped in collaboration, inclusion, sustainability, economic justice, and connection. These values have led our past and they will lead our future.