Creating a World That Circulates All Forms of Value
この取り組みを通じて目指すゴール: Goal:
We strive to be a planet-positive company that contributes to solving environmental issues through its business activities by realizing a society in which all forms of value—not just physical goods and money—circulate seamlessly.
Looking ahead to the creation of a circular economy
Mercari strives to be a planet-positive company that contributes to solving environmental and societal issues through its business activities by realizing a society in which all forms of value—not just physical goods and money—circulate seamlessly. In order to measure our positive impact, we calculated how much our business is helping avoid greenhouse gases by looking at a number of our major categories. We found that Mercari transactions in these categories alone contributed to a total of approximately 530,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions being avoided annually in Japan and the US.
In this way, we were able to quantify the positive impact that Mercari’s business has on the world, and show how the growth of Mercari’s business itself demonstrates society’s move to a circular economy. Going forward, Mercari will strive to do our part in creating a circular economy that makes the most of the world’s finite resources. We will continue to take action to promote reuse and provide alternatives to throwing items away.
What does “planet positive” mean?
The concept of “planetary boundaries,” referring to the limits of our earth’s resources, is becoming more widespread. We use the word “planet positive” to express our desire to help solve environmental issues by continuing to generate a positive impact on the environment and society through our business.
Positive impact of Mercari’s business (avoided greenhouse gas emissions)
Greenhouse gases avoided through Mercari transactions: An annual total of 530,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions are avoided in Japan and the US through Mercari’s business activities
According to the results of calculating the reduction contribution across five categories3, researchers discovered that through Mercari transactions in both Japan and the US, we avoided approximately 530,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually. The categories examined were “Apparel” (Women’s Fashion, Men’s Fashion, and Babies & Kids); “Sneakers” (Women’s Fashion, Men’s Fashion, and Kids); “Electronics” (Computers, Smartphones, and Tablets); “Books, Comics & Graphic Novels, and Magazines;” and “CDs, DVDs, and BDs (Blu-ray Discs)”2. This is equivalent to approximately 220 covered baseball stadiums.
- Calculated collaboratively by Mercari and University of Tokyo RIISE’s collaborative research division “Value Exchange Engineering.”
- Estimated based on factors such as the greenhouse gas emissions involved in the length of product use and delivery, frequency of use of Mercari, and length of product use life, under the assumption that items bought on Mercari are used in place of new items, thus avoiding greenhouse gas emissions.
For details, see the Our Positive Impact page.
2. Calculated CO2 emissions avoided on the assumption that items from completedor estimates found in the results of our analysis of CO2 emissions for Mercari US.
Calculations looked only at the clothing categories as a first survey, since clothing makes up the largest volume of transactions on Mercari and the data was readily available. (Supervised by: Moon Dami, Project Researcher at The University of Tokyo’s Value Exchange Engineering Social Research Division) As a long-term project, we plan to continue to research the environmental impact of secondhand item use for each manufacturing category.
3. CO2 equivalent to one covered baseball stadium: 2,436 t-CO2 (covered baseball stadium volume: 1.24M KL; 1 mol = 22.4 L = 44 g-CO2; Source: Tokyo Dome)