Black Friday has a significant impact on the climate, including in Belgium: according to calculations by ClimateTech scale-up Tapio, the 2024 sales week generated around 80,000 tons of CO₂, equivalent to the annual emissions of approximately 5,000 Belgians.
Clothing pollutes the most
The clothing and accessories category in particular appears to have a heavy climate footprint. It accounts for 45,100 tons of CO₂, well over half of the total. Electronics follow with 24,500 tons, and cosmetics close the list with 10,300 tons. By way of comparison, a normal shopping week causes almost 40,000 tons, which means that Black Friday amounts to two classic weeks of consumption.
