Vinted Climate Change Impact Report

Vinted, the leading C2C marketplace in Europe for second-hand fashion and portfolio company of BurdaPrincipal Investments, has released the results of its first Climate Change Impact Report. The comprehensive and independent analysis indicates that shopping second-hand on Vinted compared to buying new is a better choice for the climate. The report was conducted by the climate tech start-up Vaayu.

According to the report, buying second-hand on Vinted can result in average emission savings of 1.8 kgCO₂ per item. This is based on data collected in 2021 and 2022. The Vinted Marketplace was thus able to avoid 453 kilotons CO₂e in 2021. This equates to flying back and forth between London and Los Angeles around 275,000 times and demonstrates that buying second-hand fashion from Vinted can be less damaging to the climate than buying new items.

Vaayu used a Consequential Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach to analyse half a billion transactions, along with insights on shopping behaviours from a sample of 350,000 Vinted members. The report is thus the largest-ever primary dataset on second-hand online shopping at scale. The Report assessed: cradle-to-consumer carbon emissions of products sold on Vinted, how often Vinted members actively avoided purchasing a new product when buying second-hand and also carbon emissions generated by deliveries, packaging and Vinted operations.

Buying second-hand is the better choice for the climate

The survey also shows that almost half of the buyers (47%) chose Vinted due to affordability reasons and 20% said they are motivated by environmental and social concerns. In Germany, 29% of buyers cited environmental and social reasons as motivators. This shows that members are increasingly valuing the impact that a second-hand purchase has.