83+ Sustainable E-commerce Statistics for 2025

This is an updated date list of sustainable e-commerce Statistics for 2025. On this page, you’ll find hand-picked stats about customization.

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Top E-commerce Sustainability Statistics (Editor’s Picks)

• 85% of consumers have shifted their purchasing behaviour toward more sustainable choices in recent years.
  
• 72% of global consumers say they actively buy more environmentally friendly products.
  
• 58% of people are prepared to pay a premium for sustainable products.
  
• Consumers are willing to spend on average ~9.7% more for sustainably produced or sourced goods.
  
• 3.88 billion pounds of plastic packaging were used by the e-commerce industry in 2022 (projected to reach ~6.85 billion pounds by 2027).
  
• Online shopping generates around 4.8× more packaging waste per item than in-store purchases.
  
• Up to 24 million metric tons of CO₂ are attributed to e-commerce returns each year.
  
• Online purchases have a return rate of ~16%, versus ~9% for in-store purchases.
  
• The “last mile” often represents ~50% of e-commerce delivery emissions (and a similarly large share of last-mile shipping cost).
  
• The global sustainable-packaging market was valued at ~$270 billion in 2024 and is forecast to roughly double over the next decade.
  
• Products marketed as sustainable are growing ~2.7× faster than conventional products.
  
• Amazon reported that, as of 2023, 100% of its Europe delivery packaging (boxes, bags, envelopes) is recyclable.

Consumer Behavior

• 85% of consumers have already shifted their purchasing behavior toward sustainability.
• 14% of consumers both care deeply about the environment and are willing to pay a premium for sustainable products.
• 79% of consumers have changed their purchasing preferences because of sustainability concerns.
• 68% consumers increased their use of local products, considering them as safer and sustainable. 
• 64% of consumers report that buying sustainable products makes them feel happy.
• A significant 73% of consumers now expect companies to have adopted sustainable practices.
• A global consumer study reveals that 58% of people are prepared to pay a premium for sustainable products.
• 68% of consumers are willing to pay more for food and beverages from brands that show clear action on water efficiency.
• A study on online fashion shopping found that while 52% of shoppers stated that sustainability influenced their buying decisions
• 72% of global consumers surveyed say they actively purchase more environmentally-friendly products.
• A significant 66% of Gen Z shoppers prioritize sustainable materials when they buy fashion online. This generation is more likely to spend on high-quality, long-lasting products, with 73% of Sustainable E-commerce Statistics willing to pay a 10% premium for sustainable items.
• Consumers are willing to spend an average of 9.7% more for sustainably produced or sourced goods, even amidst ongoing inflationary pressures.
• 61% of consumers bought at least one sustainable product or service in a year.
• One study found 71% of U.S. consumers would choose the sustainable option when comparing two similar products priced at $10 or less.
• A study reported that 77% of companies prioritizing sustainability saw a notable increase in customer loyalty; that loyalty is emotional.
• 71% of consumers say they feel proud when buying eco-friendly products online.
• Nearly 90% of consumers agree that an environmentally sustainable lifestyle is important, but fewer than 49% report that they actually buy sustainable products.
• A study found that providing a clear, product-level sustainability score on a website was as influential on a customer’s buying decision as a traditional 1-5 star customer rating system.
• 69% of shoppers expect brands to offer sustainable packaging by 2025. 
• 43% of consumers are willing to pay extra for products with sustainable packaging.
• 54% of U.S. consumers reported purchasing products with sustainable packaging within the past six months.
• 74% of surveyed retailers said sustainability is a primary or secondary priority for their business, showing that due to consumer demand, retailers are shifting towards sustainable ecommerce.
  
• A survey found 78% of consumers consider sustainability important, and 55% globally are willing to pay more for brands that work to improve society and the environment.

Sources: Digital Commerce 360, Glance, Shorr, Gwi, BSI Group, MDPI, Accenture, Voyado, PwC, Deloitte, Convenience, Cap Gemini, Ocula, AP News, NIQ, The Packer

Revenue Growth and Market Advantage

• The e-commerce sustainability market is expanding rapidly, with products marketed as sustainable growing 2.7 times faster than conventional products.
• 63% companies see revenue growth after implementing sustainable approaches. 
• Amazon, the “Climate Pledge Friendly” label was observed to spur a 13-14% rise in product demand within just eight weeks.
• This phenomenon extends to the retail sector more broadly, where sustainability-marketed products command a price premium of nearly 28% compared to their conventionally marketed counterparts.
• An online campaign by the brand Reckitt, which was centered on sustainability, led to a 110% sales uplift and successfully attracted 56-66% new customers.

Sources: NYU Stern, Cap Gemini, Vaayu, Plastic Bank, 

E-commerce Returns Impact on the Environment

• The high rate of product returns in e-commerce is a major and costly problem. Online purchases have a return rate of 16%, which is significantly higher than the 9% rate for items bought in physical stores. 
• This reverse logistics process is not only a major financial drain on the industry, costing over $800 billion in 2022 and an estimated $890 billion in 2024, but it also carries a substantial environmental burden. 
• In 2022 alone, companies sent over 9.5 billion pounds of returned products directly to landfills because it was more cost-effective than reselling or refurbishing them. 
• The data reveals that only 20% of returns are due to product damage, meaning the vast majority of returns are simply unwanted items or products purchased in multiple sizes (“bracketing”) to ensure a proper fit.
• The fashion industry faces the highest return rates, with up to 40% of garments purchased online being sent back.
• Up to 24 million metric tons of CO2 emissions are attributed to e-commerce returns each year.  These emissions can add up to 30% to the emissions of the initial delivery.

Sources: NRF, Clean Hub, Inside Ecology

E-commerce Logistics & The Carbon Conundrum

• The “last mile” of delivery, the journey from a local warehouse to the consumer’s doorstep, accounts for an average of 50% of the total emissions for e-commerce product delivery. 
• A single delivery van can replace more than 100 individual car trips to a store. This suggests e-commerce shopping is more sustainable than in-store visits for shopping.
• The demand for same-day and instant deliveries is projected to increase the number of delivery vehicles by 36% by 2030, a change that could add an extra 6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.
• The positive impact of efficient transportation routes is 2.5 times greater than the negative impact of excess packaging.
• Warehouse activities, often a significant and under-addressed part of the supply chain, contribute up to 11% of the total greenhouse gas emissions of the logistics sector.
• In e-commerce warehousing, a shuttle rack system can reduce both energy use and carbon emissions by more than 50% compared to conventional racking.

• Global e-commerce deliveries are forecast to jump from 315 billion parcels in 2022 to 800 billion by 2030. This means delivery vehicles and routes will multiply, risking far higher transportation emissions if fleets are not decarbonized.
  
• Without a shift to electric fleets, last-mile e-commerce deliveries could emit up to 25 million metric tons of CO₂ by 2030. This projection underscores the need for cleaner delivery vehicles to avoid a major rise in shipping emissions.
• In 2022, pollution from e-commerce delivery vehicles in cities was estimated to contribute to ~12,000 cases of asthma and over 20,000 incidents of respiratory symptoms worldwide. This links diesel truck and van exhaust directly to public health impacts.
  
• As of mid-2025, Amazon deployed over 25,000 electric delivery vans in the U.S. (up from virtually zero in 2021). Scaling up EV fleets like this is key to cutting carbon emissions and air pollution from e-commerce logistics.
• Amazon’s delivery vans carried over 1 billion packages in 2024.The sheer scale of EV deployment shows how technology can rapidly decarbonize last-mile delivery as fleets grow.
  
• Amazon also reported matching 100% of its global electricity consumption with renewable energy in 2024. By powering data centers and operations with wind/solar, major e-commerce firms can shrink their indirect carbon footprint.
• In 2020, the return and shipping of e-commerce items accounted for 37% of total greenhouse gas emissions.\
• Last-mile delivery typically represents ~53% of the total cost of shipping.
  Because last-mile is costly, investments in greener last-mile tech (EVs, cargo bikes, consolidation) can also yield economic savings.
• DHL operated ~35,200 e-vehicles and 25,000 e-bikes/e-trikes for pickup & delivery in 2023.  Large carriers are scaling electrified and micro-mobility fleets now, which materially reduces urban delivery emissions.
• The electric cargo-bike market was valued at about $1.1 billion in 2024.
  Growth in cargo-bike fleets offers a practical way to decarbonize congested urban last-mile routes.
• For long-distance freight, air transport emits 2.57 lbs of CO₂ per ton-mile, making it more than 6 times as carbon-intensive as truck transport (0.4 lbs CO₂ per ton-mile) and over 50 times as carbon-intensive as rail (0.05 lbs CO₂ per ton-mile).
• Innovative logistics solutions – like “ship-in-product” packaging (shipping products in their original manufacturer packaging) – accounted for 12% of Amazon’s global shipments in 2024. Programs like this cut waste by avoiding extra boxes.
• Demand for “green logistics” could reach roughly $350 billion by 2030.
• More than 80% of shipping customers say they’d pay a premium for green shipping (2023 survey).

Sources:  Daifukuia, Stand Earth, World Economic Forum, ProLogis, Gep, World Economic Forum 2, Statista, Way Findr, Stand Earth, Amazon, Amazon 2, Statista 2, Wise Systems, DHL, GM Insights, Amazon 3, McKensey, BCG

Packaging & Sustainabilty

• The global sustainable packaging market was valued at 270 billion USD in 2024 and is projected to reach 490 billion USD by 2034, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.46% during the forecast period.
• By 2028, sustainable corrugated board is expected to make up over 80% of the value of sustainable e-commerce packaging, representing 45 million tons of recyclable material.
• Online shopping generates 4.8 times more packaging waste than traditional brick-and-mortar stores, which contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and pollution.
• In Europe, Amazon announced that as of 2023, 100% of its delivery packaging — including boxes, bags, and envelopes — is now recyclable, marking a major step in cutting landfill waste from one of the world’s largest e-retailers. Switching to recyclable materials is a major milestone for reducing landfill waste from one of the world’s largest e-retailers.
• 51% of food and drink products in UK supermarkets still use “unnecessary” plastic packaging that could be replaced with sustainable alternatives.
  Large substitution opportunities exist in groceries — switching to fibre or reduced plastics could cut billions of pieces of waste.
• More than one-third (37%) of North American shoppers avoided purchases because packaging was unsustainable. 
• 42% Europeans avoided purchases due to the reason of unsustainable packaging.  
• The growing sustainable packaging market (recycled, reusable, compostable materials) was already $35.64 billion in 2024 and is set to more than double by 2034

Packaging & Waste

• The e-commerce industry used 3.88 billion pounds of plastic packaging in 2022, a 14.6% increase from the previous year, showing the rapid growth of packaging waste from online orders. This amounted to a 14.6% increase over the prior year, indicating rapidly rising packaging waste from online orders.
• Plastic packaging waste from e-commerce is projected to rise to nearly 6.85 billion pounds by 2027.
• Unless packaging is significantly reduced or recycled, the waste stream from e-commerce could nearly double in five years.
• In 2019, one report estimated that Amazon alone generated 465 million pounds of plastic packaging waste.
• According to a study from MIT, online shopping produces an average of 36% fewer carbon emissions per package than in-store shopping.
• In 2020, China’s courier industry processed 83 billion parcels, creating about 1.8 million tonnes of plastic waste and nearly 10 million tonnes of paper waste. This single-country example shows the massive scale of e-commerce packaging waste in major markets.
• Online shopping generates around 4.8 times more packaging waste per item compared to traditional brick-and-mortar retail. In practice, home deliveries often use extra boxes, padding, and labels, greatly increasing waste compared to in-store purchases.
• Amazon reports cutting its single-use plastic delivery packaging by 16.4% globally in 2024. This reflects industry efforts to optimize packaging and avoid unnecessary plastics.

Regional Differences in Packaging Sustainability Views

• 82% of Latin American respondents rated compostable and plant-based packaging as the most environmentally sustainable types. 
• 77% of North American respondents agreed that compostable and plant-based packaging are the most environmentally sustainable types. 
• Only 63% of European respondents viewed compostable packaging as sustainable, indicating a lower level of regional agreement.
• 87% of Latin American respondents viewed plant-based packaging as environmentally sustainable, showing a particularly strong positive perception. 

Sources: Statista, Smithers, Clean Hub, Amazon, DS Smith, Packaging Gateway, Oceana, Ecommerce Germany, Prologis, People.cn, Towards Packaging

Circular Economy and Sustainability

• The overall circular economy market was valued at 556 billion USD in 2023 and is projected to reach 1.32 trillion USD by 2030, with a CAGR of 13.2%.
• In 2022, the e-commerce sector generated 53.6 million tonnes of waste, but only 17% was properly recycled.
• Extending the lifespan of electronics by just one year can save the EU 4 million tons of CO₂ emissions annually, a tangible benefit of encouraging a circular economy model.
• The act of refurbishing devices can lead to a 78% reduction in CO₂ emissions. 
• This extends beyond carbon to other resources, as refurbished smartphones can reduce water usage by 86% and e-waste by up to 80%.
• Producing a new laptop has an estimated carbon footprint of 331 kg, while a remanufactured laptop’s footprint is only 6.32% of that amount. Overall, 
• In 2022, the world generated 62 million tonnes of e-waste, averaging 7.8 kg per person, an 82% surge from figures reported in 2010. Only 22.3% of this was formally collected and recycled, leaving a staggering 77.7% unrecovered.

Sources: NextMSC, Science Direct, Green Citizen, Flexit Distribution, eMew

AI Optimization and Sustainability

• AI-powered systems are being used to “right-size” packaging for each order, which can cut material usage by up to 40%.
• Smart forecasting algorithms are also helping retailers cut overstock by 20% to 30%.
• Google’s fuel-efficient routing, which uses AI to find the most efficient routes, enabled emissions reductions equivalent to taking 630,000 gas-powered cars off the road in 2024. This highlights the massive, scalable impact that AI can have on e-commerce logistics.
• Augmented Reality (AR) try-on tools are cutting return rates by as much as 35% for items like furniture and eyewear.
• AI-driven tools have the capacity to reduce logistics costs by up to 20% and inventory levels by 30%, directly reducing the financial losses and environmental waste associated with overstocking.
• Businesses can lose up to 11% of their annual revenue due to issues like stockouts and overstocking. 
• Overstocking alone can increase storage and holding costs by 20-30% and ties up capital in unsold goods. The primary issue is that the financial cost of overproduction is directly linked to its environmental cost, with excess product being manufactured, transported, and stored, often for no reason.  
• By using real-time data to forecast demand with greater accuracy, these systems reduce stockouts by 30% and help maintain optimal inventory levels.
• The integration of AI into their systems is not a future trend but a present reality, with 46% of companies already using AI in their inventory management systems and the adoption of such systems projected to grow by 30% by 2026.

Sources: Digital Commerce 360, Google, Click Post, Fire Work

Sustainable Supply Chain

• The global retail supply chain is responsible for 25% of all global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A core component of this footprint is last-mile delivery, the final, often inefficient, leg of a product’s journey to the consumer. 
• The global weighted average last-mile CO2 emissions from e-commerce deliveries are 204 gCO2.
• The adoption of electric vehicle (EV) fleets is accelerating, with a Q4 2024 survey finding that 64% of U.S. fleet professionals currently operate EVs. 
• 36% of these professionals expect 20-50% of their fleets to be electric by 2025. 
• Amazon has 10,000 electric vans in its U.S. fleet and nearly 100,000 more on order.
• Major barriers for EV adoption include high upfront vehicle costs (cited by 33% of fleet professionals), charging infrastructure limitations (23%), and range anxiety (21%). 
• The market for generative AI in logistics, valued at $816 million in 2023, is projected to grow at a robust CAGR of 36.93% to reach $13.62 billion by 2032.
• One report found that AI-powered route optimization can reduce the number of vehicles on the road by a “staggering 60%” and cut delivery times by 27%.
• AI can save millions of kilometers in unnecessary travel and lead to a 6% improvement in on-time deliveries.
• One study found that the total environmental impact of online shopping could be as much as 75% less than in-store shopping. This is because a large portion of the emissions from traditional retail (up to 90%) is generated by the customer’s round trip to the store and the energy required for store maintenance and operations.
• Using physical stores as local fulfillment centers for online orders can cut 1–1.5 tons of CO₂ emissions per square meter of new construction while reducing last-mile delivery impacts.
• 40% companies see revenue growth from their investments in supply chain sustainability.
• 34% of companies have seen cost savings from their investments in supply chain sustainability, with an additional 40% expecting to see similar savings within the next year.

Sources: DNV, World Economic Forum, Scirp, Qmerit, Fareye, Sobelnet, Renewable Matter

Returns & Reverse Logistics

• E-commerce returns generate up to 24 million metric tons of CO₂ emissions each year. High return rates (customers shipping unsold items back) impose a very large carbon burden on the logistics network.
  
• In 2022, companies sent over 9.5 billion pounds of returned products directly to landfills. Many returned items (especially low-cost fashion goods) cannot be resold efficiently, leading to massive waste.
  
• Processing and shipping a return typically adds about 30% more CO₂ emissions on top of the original delivery. This “reverse logistics” penalty significantly increases the total carbon cost of online orders.
• The online shopping returns alone account for 25% of total e-commerce emissions, compared to just 7% of emissions from in-person stores. The rise of fast fashion and the culture of free returns have exacerbated this problem to a systemic level.

Sources: Clean Hub, Inside Ecology
 

Conclusion

These E-commerce Sustainability Statistics underline urgent opportunities: reduce packaging, optimize returns, and decarbonize last-mile logistics. Brands that act now can cut emissions, lower costs, and win customer loyalty. The path forward combines smarter packaging, circular approaches, and investments in cleaner delivery to build a resilient, sustainable online retail ecosystem.