The Next Economy
Buying Secondhand Saves 16.3M Tons of CO2 Per Year, According to New Report

How much pollution can potentially be saved annually through secondhand trade if each used product replaces the production of a new one? That is the question Schibsted Media Group set out to answer in its second edition of The Second Hand Effect.

Shopping secondhand offers consumers an easy way to significantly reduce their environmental footprint. Schibsted has found a way to convert the environmental benefit from its users’ trade into numbers using data collected from eight of its marketplaces. According to the report, users Schibsted’s online marketplaces in Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, Morocco, Norway, Spain and Sweden have contributed to 16.3 millions tons of carbon dioxide savings by buying and selling used goods last year.

This equates to the annual carbon dioxide emissions of 1.8 million Europeans or 1,440 flights around the globe in the world’s biggest airplane.

“To do business in a responsible and sustainable way is crucial if we want to succeed amongst the knowledgeable and engaged consumers of today. The power of journalism in helping democracy is evident through Schibsted’s media houses,” said Rolv Erik Ryssdal, CEO of Schibsted Media Group.

“With this report we now also show the great benefits of our marketplaces around the world. To see the big impact we can have together with our users makes me really proud.”

This is the second year the global report is presented and this time eight of Schibsted’s 30 international marketplaces participated:

• Leboncoin — France
• Blocket — Sweden
• Finn — Norway
• Subito — Italy
• Vibbo — Spain
• Tori — Finland
• Jófogás — Hungary
• Avito — Morocco

Together, these sites have more than 60 million visitors per month. The biggest contributor to The Second Hand Effect is Leboncoin in France, which receives 22 million unique visitors each month and has generated 7.5 million tons in carbon dioxide savings.

Schibsted developed the calculation of climate savings in partnership with IVL The Swedish Environmental Research Institute. The calculation is based on the assumption that each sold used product replaces the production of a new, equivalent product and the waste management of the product. By collecting and processing the 2016 sales numbers from marketplaces and processing customer surveys together with total energy consumption for the eight marketplaces’ whole operations, they were able to extract the results.

The study focused solely on private individuals’ ads and excluded postings for pets, services, concert tickets, travels and accommodations, as they do not involve the recycling of material goods.

In total, the study covers approximately 50 percent of all private ads on the eight participating Schibsted sites. The limitation is set according to available climate data and the ability to appreciate the materials that the average product is made of.

The calculations are based on the ads that lead to sales