Data story: Sharing economy utilization rates, growth metrics, and environmental savings by sector

Why It Matters

The average power drill is used for only 13 minutes across its entire lifetime, yet each one requires roughly 4 kg of steel, copper, and plastic to manufacture (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2025). That statistic captures the core inefficiency the sharing economy and product-as-a-service (PaaS) models aim to solve. By shifting from ownership to access, these models promise to raise asset utilization, cut material throughput, and reduce lifecycle emissions. The global sharing economy reached an estimated $450 billion in transaction value in 2025 and is projected to surpass $600 billion by 2028 (PwC, 2025). Yet the environmental dividend depends on whether utilization actually increases and whether rebound effects erode the gains. This data story tracks the metrics that reveal where sharing and PaaS models are delivering genuine environmental savings and where the data tells a more complicated story.

Key Concepts

Asset utilization rate measures the proportion of time or capacity an asset is actively in use compared with its total available time. A privately owned car sits idle roughly 95% of the time, while a car-share vehicle in a dense European city achieves utilization rates between 30% and 45% (ITF, 2025). Higher utilization means fewer total units are needed to serve the same demand, reducing upstream manufacturing emissions and raw material extraction.

Product-as-a-service (PaaS) bundles a physical product with maintenance, upgrades, and end-of-life recovery into a recurring service contract. The manufacturer retains ownership and therefore has a financial incentive to design for durability, modularity, and recyclability. Philips Lighting (now Signify) pioneered this approach with its "Light as a Service" contracts, where commercial clients pay per lux rather than per luminaire, and Signify reports a 50% reduction in material use per lighting project under PaaS versus traditional sales (Signify, 2025).

Avoided emissions quantify the greenhouse gas reductions attributable to sharing or PaaS compared with the conventional ownership baseline. These calculations must account for rebound effects, where cost savings from sharing may fund additional consumption elsewhere. The World Resources Institute (WRI, 2024) recommends using consequential lifecycle assessment and including induced travel or usage changes in the system boundary when reporting avoided emissions from sharing platforms.

Platform density and network effects determine whether a sharing model achieves environmental benefits at scale. Low-density deployments may require vehicles to travel long distances for repositioning, negating emission savings. Research from the International Transport Forum (ITF, 2025) shows that shared mobility services in cities with populations below 250,000 often generate more vehicle-kilometers traveled than the private car trips they replace.

What's Working and What Isn't

Mobility sharing shows strong utilization gains in dense markets. Zipcar and ShareNow report fleet utilization rates between 35% and 50% in cities such as London, Berlin, and Paris, compared with the 5% utilization typical of privately owned vehicles (Zipcar, 2025). Each shared car replaces an estimated 8 to 13 private vehicles according to data from the Transportation Sustainability Research Center at UC Berkeley (Shaheen, 2025). Lime and Tier Mobility report that their shared e-scooter and e-bike fleets in European cities displace between 20% and 35% of trips that would otherwise have been made by private car, yielding 40 to 65 grams of CO2 avoided per trip (Tier Mobility, 2025).

Equipment-as-a-service is scaling in B2B sectors. Hilti's Fleet Management programme leases power tools to construction firms with full maintenance, replacement, and recycling included. The programme has enrolled over 300,000 customers globally and Hilti reports that tool utilization under fleet contracts is 3 to 4 times higher than under ownership, while tool lifespans extend by roughly 30% because of professional refurbishment (Hilti, 2025). Caterpillar's Cat Reman remanufacturing programme recovered over 100 million pounds of material in 2024, and equipment under service contracts shows utilization rates 20% to 40% above owner-operated equivalents (Caterpillar, 2024).

Fashion rental and resale face mixed results. The secondhand apparel market grew 15% in 2025 to reach $227 billion globally (ThredUp, 2025). However, peer-reviewed research from Lund University found that the environmental benefits of clothing rental depend heavily on logistics: if dry-cleaning and last-mile delivery are included, renting a garment can generate higher lifecycle emissions than buying and wearing it 30 or more times (Zamani et al., 2024). Platforms like Rent the Runway and HURR have responded by consolidating logistics hubs and switching to carbon-neutral delivery, but utilization data remains uneven. Rent the Runway reported that its average garment is rented 12 times before retirement, achieving roughly 4 times the utilization of a typical fast-fashion item worn 7 times on average.

Rebound effects remain a persistent challenge. A meta-analysis published in Nature Sustainability (Hertwich, 2025) found that sharing economy platforms reduce per-unit emissions by 30% to 70% but that economy-wide savings are only 10% to 25% because users redirect savings toward additional consumption. Ride-hailing services illustrate the problem: Uber and Lyft trips in the United States generated an estimated 69% more emissions than the trips they displaced in 2024, primarily because of deadheading (empty vehicle miles between fares) and induced travel demand (Union of Concerned Scientists, 2024).

PaaS models in electronics are gaining traction. Grover, a Berlin-based subscription platform, allows consumers to rent smartphones, laptops, and other devices on monthly plans. Grover reports that each device cycles through 3 to 5 users before entering certified refurbishment or recycling, extending effective product life from 2.5 years under ownership to over 7 years under subscription (Grover, 2025). This reduces annual e-waste per user by roughly 60% compared with the purchase-and-dispose baseline.

Key Players

Established Leaders

• Signify (Philips Lighting) — Pioneer of light-as-a-service; operates circular lighting contracts across 40+ countries with over 50 million connected light points.
• Hilti — Construction tool fleet management serving 300,000+ customers; integrates refurbishment and end-of-life recycling.
• Caterpillar — Cat Reman and equipment-as-a-service contracts; recovered over 100 million pounds of material in 2024.
• Zipcar (Avis Budget Group) — Largest round-trip car-sharing service with fleets in 500+ cities globally.

Emerging Startups

• Grover — Consumer electronics subscription platform; raised $330 million in debt and equity funding through 2025.
• HURR — Fashion rental marketplace partnering with Harrods and Selfridges; integrating consolidated last-mile logistics.
• Fat Llama — Peer-to-peer rental platform for consumer goods and equipment; operating in the UK and US.
• Rheaply — B2B asset exchange platform helping enterprises redeploy surplus equipment internally before procurement.

Key Investors/Funders

• Ellen MacArthur Foundation — Drives circular economy research and convenes corporate partners adopting PaaS models.
• Circularity Capital — Edinburgh-based fund investing in circular economy businesses including sharing and PaaS ventures.
• EIT Climate-KIC — EU innovation body funding sharing economy pilots across European cities.

Examples

Signify in Schiphol Airport. Signify installed a light-as-a-service system at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport covering 3,500 luminaires. Under the contract, Signify retains ownership and responsibility for performance, energy use, and end-of-life recovery. The airport reduced energy consumption for lighting by 50% and Signify has committed to recovering and recycling 95% of materials at contract end (Signify, 2025).

Hilti ON!Track in Nordic construction. Skanska adopted Hilti's Fleet Management and ON!Track asset tracking across its Nordic construction operations. The system uses IoT sensors to monitor tool location, usage, and maintenance needs. Skanska reported a 25% reduction in total tools required on site and a 40% drop in tool-related downtime, with the added benefit of eliminating roughly 18 tonnes of tool waste annually across its Nordic projects (Hilti, 2025).

Grover electronics subscription in Germany. Grover's subscriber base grew to over 500,000 active users in 2025. The company tracks each device through multiple rental cycles and reports that the average smartphone on its platform avoids 58 kg of CO2 compared with buying new, accounting for logistics and refurbishment energy. Grover partners with certified recyclers for end-of-life processing and has achieved a 92% material recovery rate for retired devices (Grover, 2025).

Tier Mobility e-scooters in Paris. Following Paris's public vote to ban rental e-scooters in 2023, Tier pivoted to e-bike sharing and has since deployed 15,000 e-bikes across 12 French cities. Usage data shows that each e-bike replaces an average of 2.1 car trips per day, with an estimated 42 grams of CO2 avoided per trip after accounting for vehicle manufacturing and charging emissions (Tier Mobility, 2025).

Action Checklist

• Measure baseline utilization. Before launching or joining a sharing programme, document current asset utilization rates to establish a credible comparison point.
• Set avoided-emissions targets using consequential LCA. Follow WRI guidance and include rebound effects in system boundaries to avoid overstating environmental benefits.
• Prioritize high-density markets. Deploy shared assets in locations with sufficient demand density to ensure utilization rates exceed the break-even point for environmental benefit, typically above 20% for vehicles and 30% for equipment.
• Integrate end-of-life recovery into contracts. Structure PaaS agreements so that the service provider retains ownership and responsibility for refurbishment, remanufacturing, or recycling at contract end.
• Track and report per-unit metrics. Publish utilization rate, number of users per asset, asset lifespan extension, and avoided emissions per unit to build transparency and investor confidence.
• Engage with circular economy certifications. Pursue relevant certifications such as Cradle to Cradle or B Corp to signal commitment to genuine environmental performance rather than greenwashing.

FAQ

How much does the sharing economy actually reduce emissions? Per-unit emission reductions range from 30% to 70% depending on the sector and model, according to a Nature Sustainability meta-analysis (Hertwich, 2025). However, economy-wide savings are lower, typically 10% to 25%, because of rebound effects where cost savings enable additional consumption. The net environmental benefit depends on platform density, logistics efficiency, and whether the sharing model genuinely displaces new production.

Which sectors show the highest utilization gains from sharing? B2B equipment sharing and fleet management consistently show the largest utilization improvements. Hilti's Fleet Management programme achieves 3 to 4 times higher tool utilization than ownership, and commercial car-sharing fleets reach 35% to 50% utilization compared with 5% for private vehicles. Consumer fashion rental, by contrast, shows more variable results because of logistics overhead and low per-garment rental frequency.

Are ride-hailing services environmentally beneficial? In most US cities, no. The Union of Concerned Scientists (2024) found that ride-hailing trips generate 69% more emissions than the trips they replace because of deadheading and induced travel demand. Pooled rides (shared among multiple passengers) can reduce emissions by 30% to 50% per passenger-kilometer, but pooled trips account for fewer than 20% of ride-hailing bookings in most markets.

What is the difference between sharing and product-as-a-service? Sharing models enable multiple users to access the same asset on a short-term basis, often through a platform. PaaS models involve a single user or organization accessing a product through a long-term service contract where the manufacturer retains ownership and manages maintenance, upgrades, and end-of-life recovery. PaaS provides stronger manufacturer incentives for durability and recyclability because the provider bears lifecycle costs.

How can companies avoid greenwashing when reporting sharing economy benefits? Companies should use consequential lifecycle assessment following WRI protocols, include rebound effects and logistics emissions in their calculations, report per-unit and economy-wide metrics separately, and obtain independent third-party verification of claimed environmental savings.

Sources

• Ellen MacArthur Foundation. (2025). The Sharing Economy and Circular Design: Asset Utilization Benchmarks. Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
• PwC. (2025). Global Sharing Economy Market Sizing and Growth Projections 2025-2030. PricewaterhouseCoopers.
• International Transport Forum (ITF). (2025). Shared Mobility Simulations: Utilization, Vehicle-Kilometres, and Emission Impacts in European Cities. OECD/ITF.
• Shaheen, S. (2025). Car-Sharing Impacts on Vehicle Ownership and Use: Updated Evidence from North America and Europe. UC Berkeley Transportation Sustainability Research Center.
• Signify. (2025). Light as a Service Impact Report: Material Reduction and Circular Performance Metrics. Signify.
• Hilti. (2025). Fleet Management Sustainability Report: Tool Utilization, Lifespan Extension, and Waste Reduction. Hilti Group.
• Caterpillar. (2024). Cat Reman Annual Sustainability Report: Material Recovery and Remanufacturing Volumes. Caterpillar Inc.
• ThredUp. (2025). Resale Report: Global Secondhand Apparel Market Size and Growth Trends. ThredUp Inc.
• Zamani, B. et al. (2024). Environmental Assessment of Clothing Rental Services: The Role of Logistics and Consumer Behaviour. Lund University / Journal of Cleaner Production.
• Hertwich, E. (2025). Rebound Effects in the Sharing Economy: A Meta-Analysis of Emission Savings and Induced Consumption. Nature Sustainability.
• Union of Concerned Scientists. (2024). Ride-Hailing's Climate Risks: Deadheading, Induced Travel, and Net Emission Impacts. UCS.
• World Resources Institute (WRI). (2024). Guidance on Avoided Emissions Accounting for Sharing and Product-as-a-Service Models. WRI.
• Grover. (2025). Circular Electronics Report: Device Lifecycles, Material Recovery, and Carbon Savings. Grover Group GmbH.
• Tier Mobility. (2025). Environmental Impact Report: E-Bike and E-Scooter Modal Shift and Emission Avoidance Data. Tier Mobility SE.
• Zipcar. (2025). Car-Sharing Impact Report: Fleet Utilization and Vehicle Replacement Ratios. Zipcar/Avis Budget Group.