Study shows the climate potential of second-hand products
Switzerland is experiencing strong growth in the online market segment for second-hand products. This development is supported by a high level of digital acceptance, high purchasing power and a culture of sustainability and quality. A study by SMG Swiss Marketplace Group and Vaayu looks at the CO₂ emissions avoided by trading second-hand goods on digital marketplaces in 2024.
The growing second-hand trend is a real climate lever. In Switzerland, high purchasing power, digital penetration and a pronounced awareness of sustainability are increasingly driving growth in the online second-hand sector. In 2024, an estimated 166,368 tons of CO₂e emissions could be avoided through digital second-hand trade in Switzerland, which corresponds to around 1.8 % of the annual consumption footprint of Swiss households. This is the result of a recent analysis carried out on behalf of the SMG Swiss Marketplace Group as part of this year's Secondhand Day in cooperation with Vaayu was prepared. The analysis is based on a study published by McKinsey & Company in July 2025, publications by the Federal Statistical Office and a study prepared by Vaayu, which, together with SMG, calculated the potentially avoided greenhouse gas emissions of the SMG marketplaces Ricardo, tutti.ch and anibis.ch in the “Avoided Emissions Report 2024”. The current analysis prepared by Vaayu is the first to comprehensively quantify the extent to which Swiss online second-hand trade contributes to the avoidance of CO₂e emissions. To calculate the potentially avoided greenhouse gas emissions, the transaction volume of nine leading Swiss second-hand platforms was analyzed. The study focused on consumer goods categories such as children & baby, electronics, fashion & accessories, household & living, leisure, sports & hobbies.
Resale of unused items: 17 times more one-off avoided greenhouse gas emissions possible
The current analysis by SMG and Vaayu shows that the greenhouse gas emissions avoided through online second-hand trade in 2024 correspond to an estimated 1.8 % of the annual consumption footprint of Swiss households, based on the expenditure of all Swiss households in 2021 (reference: FSO). A considerable figure with plenty of room for improvement. The analysis also shows that there is currently an immense resale potential of unused, still functional items lying dormant in Swiss households. According to the McKinsey study, which served as the basis for the analysis by SMG and Vaayu, every Swiss household contains unused goods worth an average of CHF 4,000. Vaayu calculates and compares this value with the following potential climate impact: the potentially avoidable emissions from unused items - i.e. if these treasures were resold in Swiss households and thus replaced the purchase of new products - corresponded to around 30.6 % (2.8 million tons of CO₂e) of the annual consumption footprint of Swiss households in 2024. This means that if all unused items in Swiss households were resold and reused, it is estimated that the annual consumption footprint of 1.8 % could be multiplied once by a factor of 17 to 30.6 %.
Forecast: 10 % higher CO2e savings potential by 2029
The online marketplace study by McKinsey & Company used as the basis for the current analysis assumes a sustained annual growth in the transaction volume of Swiss online second-hand marketplaces of 3 %. Based on this, online second-hand consumption in Switzerland could potentially avoid 183,209 tons of CO₂e emissions in 2029, which corresponds to growth of 10 % compared to 2024. This savings potential only reflects the estimated pure market growth (additional changes in consumer behaviour or production optimizations such as the decarbonization of production in China are not taken into account here).
Vaayu's analysis adds possible sustainable changes in consumer behavior to the pure estimated market growth, resulting in the following scenario by 2029: If the share of second-hand purchases that actually replace new products (replacement rate) gradually increases from 53 % to 60 % by 2029, this could avoid 23 % more greenhouse gas emissions compared to the forecast based solely on market growth. This would mean Every one percentage point increase in the replacement rate leads to over 3 % more avoided emissions.
SMG as a partner of Secondhand Day
The analysis carried out by SMG in collaboration with Vaayu as part of this year's National Secondhand Day on Saturday, 8 November 2025, shows which small changes in consumer behavior can have a real impact on the climate. “The results of the current analysis are impressive and motivate us to further increase the hidden second-hand market and climate potential in Switzerland with our online marketplaces Ricardo, tutti.ch and anibis.ch,” says Jessica List, Chief Corporate Officer of SMG. As a partner of this year's Secondhand Day, SMG is supporting this annual day of action, which was launched in 2020 by Ricardo, myclimate and Circular Economy Switzerland.
Sources:
- McKinsey & Company: Unlocking Switzerland's potential: The rise of online marketplaces
- Federal Statistical Office: Greenhouse gas footprint of households by expenditure item
- SMG Swiss Marketplace Group: Avoided Emissions Report 2024
