Behind the scenes

Galaxus customers making fewer climate contributions

16.4.2025

Translation: Jessica Johnson-Ferguson

In 2025, Galaxus customers in Switzerland have been making voluntary climate contributions for around 10 per cent of their purchases so far. In 2022, the figure was slightly higher at 12 per cent. In Germany, the rate even temporarily fell from 8 to 4.25 per cent, but has been going up since late 2024.

Every purchase made on Galaxus leaves a carbon footprint. This starts with the extraction of raw materials, continues with the production of the product and ends with its delivery. Customers can make an optional contribution (formerly known as CO₂ offsetting) to make up for the greenhouse gas emissions generated by their order.

Behind the scenes
Climate contributions and CO2

In 2022, Galaxus customers in Switzerland ticked the CO₂ contribution box for just under 12 per cent of orders placed. But times have changed. Since 2022, cumulative inflation in Switzerland has been over six per cent. The resulting rise in cost of living has shifted customers’ priorities – a fact that’s reflected in fewer and fewer climate contributions being made for items ordered. Currently, ten per cent of purchases include climate contributions.

Compared to neighbouring Germany, however, shoppers in Switzerland are far more generous when it comes to protecting the planet. In Germany, the proportion of orders including a climate contribution fell noticeably: from eight per cent in 2022 to an all-time low of 4.25 for a while. With cumulative inflation at around 17 per cent during the last three years, many people in Germany have put saving money before saving the planet. But unlike Switzerland, Germany seems to have bottomed out for the time being. In late 2024 and early 2025, shoppers in Germany started making more contributions again, thereby bringing the percentage of orders including carbon compensation up to 4.8 per cent.

Who’s dishing out the green money?

In Switzerland, cantons containing larger cities, such as Zurich or Bern, are often politically more on the left and greener than the rest of the country. This is somewhat reflected in the climate contributions at Galaxus, with the most hailing from Basel City, Zurich and Bern. Customers from the cantons of Valais, Appenzell Innerrhoden and Schwyz make the lowest climate contributions for their orders.

In Germany, too, the most generous contributors reflect the results of the recent federal election. In the city states of Hamburg, Berlin and Bremen, residents are willing to fork out a little more for their purchases to help the environment. Those are the same federal states where «Bündnis 90/Die Grünen» got the highest share of votes. In Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg and Saarland, making climate contributions seems to have a lower priority.

Clothes make shoppers greener

Shoppers in Switzerland and Germany seem to be particularly inclined to make a climate contribution when they’re buying clothes. The highest share was recorded in the sports range, where a large proportion of sales consist of clothing. In Switzerland, regular clothing is right behind in second place. Whether this is down to the disclosure of the clothes’ country of origin is hard to say. In Germany, sports goods also rank high for contributions and are ahead of toys.

In both countries, the least money paid towards reducing carbon emissions is on vehicle supplies and IT products.

What the 2024 climate contributions achieved

The climate contributions invested by Galaxus in Switzerland and Germany in 2024 reduced or prevented the emission of over 96,000 tonnes of CO₂. That’s about the same as driving a car from Zurich to Hamburg and back again 375,000 times.

Do you make a voluntary climate contribution when shopping on Galaxus? And if so, do you do this for all purchases or only for selected products? We’re looking forward to your comments.

Header image: Manuel Wenk

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Tobias Heller

Communications Manager

Tobias.Heller@digitecgalaxus.ch

Sustainability

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