The Nordic circular economy in action: Vend Marketplaces facilitate 672,000 tonnes of avoided emissions

The study, conducted in partnership with climate impact software firm Vaayu, analysed 17 million transactions across nine consumer categories. The total net savings are equivalent to removing 3.6 million car commutes between Stockholm and Oslo, or avoiding the industrial manufacturing of 4.6 million brand-new bicycles. On average, a single second-hand trade on a Vend platform avoids nearly 40kg of CO2e compared to purchasing a new equivalent item.

"Millions of people interact with our marketplaces every day. In Recommerce, our strategic ambition is to make circular consumption the obvious first choice by turning underutilised household goods into actively used and loved items. The data demonstrates clear progress: our users trade with high intent, with 84% searching for a specific necessity, while using their earnings to actively manage daily cost-of-living pressures," says Christian Printzell Halvorsen, CEO of Vend.

The report indicates that manufacturing replacement remains the primary driver of climate savings. Heavy consumer goods created the largest impact: the "Furniture and interior" category accounted for 39% of total avoided emissions across the group, followed by "Electronics and home appliances" at 21%, and "Sports and outdoors" at 13%. Individual items with the highest average savings per transaction included white goods such as washing machines, freezers, and dishwashers.

The survey of nearly 19,000 marketplace users highlights a fundamental economic shift across the Nordics. 61% of sellers report using their recommerce earnings to cover everyday living expenses, while 65% of buyers state that they consistently prioritise second-hand over new retail.

"A third of everything sold on our marketplaces had already been bought used or refurbished at least once before, and a third came straight out of storage. That's the part I find most encouraging – that the same object creates value several times over, with nothing new made in between. But the climate effect only really lands when a second-hand purchase replaces something that would otherwise have been bought new — and today that's a little over four purchases in ten. So there's real progress here, and a lot of headroom left. The goal has to be that more of us check whether the thing we need already exists before we buy it new," says Anna Strindberg, Head of Sustainability at Vend.

About the Second Hand Effect Report 2025

The report analyses 17 million second-hand transactions on FINN in Norway, Blocket in Sweden, Tori in Finland and DBA in Denmark. Climate calculations by Vaayu, using life cycle analysis modelled at category level. The figures are potentially avoided emissions, net of emissions from marketplace operations, packaging and buyer delivery journeys, and are calculated separately from Vend’s own reported footprint rather than netted against it. The survey covers 18,998 users across Vend's marketplaces.