Subito, Italy’s leading online marketplace for secondhand goods, has disclosed substantial environmental impact figures from its operations over the past year. The Milan-based platform facilitated approximately 15 million transactions involving used items, with nearly 2 million vehicles and accessories among the goods sold through its listings.
Environmental Impact Through Scale
The company’s latest figures underscore the tangible climate benefits generated by enabling the resale of used items rather than encouraging new purchases. According to Subito’s calculations, the transactions processed throughout the year resulted in the avoidance of approximately 518,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions. To contextualise this environmental achievement, the platform notes that this carbon savings equivalent represents the annual absorption capacity of approximately 23 million trees.
The vehicle segment proved particularly significant in Subito’s environmental contribution. Speaking at an Adnkronos sustainability panel, Silvia Campanella, Head of Communications & Sustainability at Subito, outlined the scale of automotive transactions: “We sold an average of one car every three minutes on Subito, and each transaction saves about 8 kg of CO₂, amounting to roughly 13,000 tonnes of CO₂ saved last year.”
This metric highlights a critical aspect of the circular economy: the manufacturing and transportation of new vehicles represents a substantial carbon footprint, making the extension of vehicle lifecycles through the secondhand market a meaningful environmental intervention.
Circular Economy at Scale
Founded in 2007, Subito has established itself as a foundational platform within Italy’s consumer marketplace ecosystem. The company’s growth to facilitating 15 million annual transactions demonstrates the scale at which circular economy principles can operate through digital platforms, removing traditional friction from secondhand commerce.
The breadth of items transacted through the platform extends well beyond vehicles. The remaining portion of the 15 million transactions encompassed various consumer goods, reflecting how the secondhand marketplace has embedded itself across multiple product categories in Italian consumer behaviour.
Subito’s disclosure of environmental metrics represents an emerging trend among European marketplaces, where platforms are increasingly quantifying and communicating the sustainability dimensions of their operations. As European regulators and consumers place greater emphasis on circular economy principles and carbon accounting, such transparency may become increasingly standard across the sector.
The Italian startup’s figures also reflect broader patterns within the European startup ecosystem, where established growth-stage companies are leveraging their operational scale to demonstrate environmental value beyond traditional financial metrics. As the continent pursues ambitious climate targets, the role of digital platforms in enabling circular consumption patterns continues to gain relevance among policymakers and investors alike.