Client
Wallapop is the leading platform for conscious and humane consumption. Founded in Barcelona in 2013 and present in Spain, Italy, and Portugal, it aims to create a unique inventory ecosystem of reused products that facilitates a more humane and sustainable consumption model. The platform connects over 19 million users who visit it each month, collectively creating over 100 million listings annually. On Wallapop, it is possible to buy and sell products from all categories of consumer goods easily, quickly, and securely.
Challenge
To quantify the carbon footprint associated with the company’s activities from a life cycle perspective and according to the methodology described by the GHG Protocol. The organizational carbon footprint is the global warming indicator that measures the total amount of direct and indirect Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions resulting from the organization’s activities, including both the activities of the operations office in Barcelona and the activities related to buying and selling products within the Wallapop platform.
What was done?
All significant GHG emissions were inventoried for each emission scope described by the GHG Protocol. Emissions from scope 1 and 2, and all categories of scope 3 of the standard, were considered.
Following this, the carbon footprint was quantified, both its absolute value and the relative values for each activity variable. Finally, the results of the carbon footprint were interpreted, identifying the stages and elements that represent the highest emission sources and where improvement measures in traceability, reduction, and/or mitigation should be applied.
The calculation period was the fiscal year 2023, from January 1st to December 31st of that year.
Results
92.733,69 t CO2 eq.
Wallapop’s organizational carbon footprint for the year 2023 is 92,733.69 tons of CO2 equivalent.
99,99%
99.99% of the impact is concentrated in scope 3; within this scope, almost all the impact (96%) occurs in the downstream transportation and distribution category. Of this 96%, only 6.7% are emissions from Wallapop’s logistics service, while the remaining 89.3% are emissions derived from face-to-face exchanges.
The footprint results indicate that transactions completed through Wallapop’s shipping service emit, on average, fourteen times less CO2 than users’ journeys for face-to-face transactions. The main reason for this difference is that a high number of face-to-face transactions are conducted after traveling in private vehicles (usually, a conventional car), where it is assumed that only one product is transported. In contrast, logistic partners have sophisticated route optimization systems and implement best practices for emission reduction in transport, such as electric vehicles and prioritizing more sustainable practices in the last mile (e.g., delivery personnel traveling on foot, by bicycle, or scooter).
0 t CO2 eq.
Scope 2 emissions are 0 tons of CO2 equivalent because electricity consumption comes from 100% renewable sources.
0,01 t CO2 eq.
Scope 1 emissions are 0.01 tons of CO2 equivalent, representing 0.00001% of Wallapop’s carbon footprint. These emissions are fugitive emissions associated with fire extinguisher recharging.
Conclusions
Wallapop’s goal is to continue advancing towards the minimization of its emissions. With the calculation of the organizational carbon footprint, the company has a starting point to explore reduction initiatives.
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