Company News  /  Carbonstop issued e-commerce research report

Carbonstop issued e-commerce research report

  • Date: 2021-03-02
  • View: 522

Recently, the Carbonstop team took an in-depth look at e-commerce enterprises, assessed the total carbon emissions of e-commerce, and compared the carbon emissions of online and offline shopping. In addition, the report on Total GHG Emissions of E-commerce Enterprises in China and the Report on Comparison of Online and offline Greenhouse Gas Emissions in China were published.

The core conclusion:

1. According to a detailed calculation of carbon footprint, China's e-commerce generated 53.26 million tons of CO2e in 2019. In the next five years, it will maintain rapid growth, and it is estimated that the carbon emission from e-commerce will reach 116 million tons in 2025.

2. China's e-commerce carbon emission sources mainly include: packaging, accounting for 18%; Logistics, about 29 percent; Office, about 26%; Data centers, about 23 percent; Warehousing, about 4%.

3. Carbon emission sources of online shopping include transportation and express transportation, accounting for 29.16%; Architecture-office, accounting for 26.12%; Construction and warehousing, about 3.88%; Information-data center, about 22.78%, Information-consumer terminal power consumption, about 0.02%; Packaging - Express packaging, about 18.04%.

4. The main sources of carbon emissions from offline shopping include: transport-transportation before goods enter stores, accounting for 13.03%; transport-consumers’ traffic emissions, accounting for 35.87%; construction-store operation (generally including office), accounting for 47.11%; and packaging-plastic bags, accounting for 1.05%.

5. According to the study and calculation of carbon footprint, online shopping is lower than offline shopping, and the carbon emission of an online purchase and an offline purchase of the same goods are 1094.92gCO2e and 1360.24gCO2e respectively.

In recent years, with the continuous development of e-commerce, its scale continues to expand, its importance in the national economy is becoming increasingly prominent, the living penetration rate of residents is becoming higher and higher, but the rapid development has also brought a series of environmental problems and energy problems.

China has announced that it will peak carbon emissions by 2030 and become carbon neutral by 2060, making it one of the eight key tasks for 2021. Then, how much impact does e-commerce have on carbon emissions, and how does e-commerce contribute to the realization of "carbon peak and carbon neutrality"? The CREO carbon neutralization pathway proposed by the Carbonstop team involves quantifying your carbon emissions first, i.e. Calculating them all. Only after we know our own emissions, can we take appropriate mitigation actions to lay a solid foundation for achieving carbon neutral.

The total amount study mainly evaluates the carbon emissions of e-commerce from five areas: packaging, logistics, data center, office and storage. The study found that e-commerce generates 53.26 million tons of carbon emissions a year, accounting for 2.5 percent of the total emissions from the tertiary industry, and about 10 billion trees are needed annually to neutralize its carbon emissions. Among them, logistics 15.54 million tons, accounting for 29 percent; 13.92 million tons of office work, or 26%; 12.14 million tons, or 23%, for data centers; Packaging 9.61 million tons, accounting for 18%; Warehousing 2.07 million tons, accounting for 4%.

 

Emissions Forecast by 2025 - China's express delivery volume is expected to reach 150 billion pieces in 2025, up 80% in five years from more than 80 billion pieces in 2020, according to the forecast. If no measures are taken, it is estimated that the carbon emissions of e-commerce enterprises will reach over 116 million tons in 2025, accounting for 1.1% of China's total emissions in 2025. Compared with 2020, the emissions will increase by about 50 million tons in five years, with a growth rate of 73% and an average annual growth rate of 14.7%. According to the analysis, China's projected emissions increase during the 14th five-year plan period is only 200 million tons, and the emission increase of e-commerce enterprises will account for 25% of China's emissions increase during the 14th five-year plan period.

The main conclusions of the Report on Comparison of Online and offline Greenhouse Gas Emissions in China are as follows:

1. Based on the basic conditions in the article, online shopping is lower in carbon emission than offline shopping. The carbon emission of an online purchase and an offline purchase of the same item is 1094.92gCO2e and 1360.24gCO2e respectively.

2. Carbon emission sources of online shopping include: traffic-express transportation, accounting for 29.16%; building-office, 26.12%; building-storage, 3.88%; information-data center, 22.78%; information-consumer terminal power consumption, about 0.02%; package-express packaging, about 18.04%.

3. The main sources of carbon emissions from offline shopping include: transport-transportation before goods enter stores, accounting for 13.03%; transport-consumers’ traffic emissions, accounting for 35.87%; construction-store operation (generally including office), accounting for 47.11%; and packaging-plastic bags, accounting for 1.05%.

4. Carbon emissions from online and offline shopping are grouped into four main areas: transportation, construction, information and packaging. For transportation, the online total is about 319.30gCO2e, and the offline total is about 665.14gCO2e. Construction: online total 328.50gCO2e, offline total 684.10gCO2e. In the information section, online emissions total 249.63GCo2E, while offline emissions may include inventory management systems, which are included in all energy consumption calculations for building operations. Not considering the packaging of the goods themselves, but only considering the extra packaging part in the shopping process, the online emission is 197.49gCO2e, and the offline emission is about 11.00gCO2e.

5. The calculation is based on the average shopping situation, and the carbon emission of specific products will be closely related to the actual process. The specific emission value will be related to the type of product, the place of delivery of shopping goods, express transportation, whether the cold chain is needed, the actual energy consumption level of the building, users' travel habits, and the number of users' purchase orders in a single trip, etc.