As we enter the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, working from home has become the norm for many. While some offices have been bringing their teams back, often in a hybrid effort, there are still many working from a dining room table. While it is clear that teleworking has had an impact on relationships and work-life balance during the last 24 months, studies about how teleworking has influenced the environment show some improvements, but a lot of unanswered questions remain.
Environmental Gains
A Spanish study found that working from home four days a week reduced the amount of nitrogen dioxide — the main pollutant generated by traffic emissions — around 10%. As people return to the office slowly, there still seems to be a reduction of about 8%. The same study noted that although digital usage can burn a considerable amount of energy in data centers, the net impact has still been positive, with Zoom calls emitting only 0.6% of the carbon emissions that would be generated on a typical commute.
Continued Concerns
However, Globalization Partners highlights that the environmental impacts aren’t cut and dry when it comes to teleworking being a fully sustainable option. For example, while an average home uses less energy than an office building, an office building has been designed to utilize energy better. And while remote workers may save money on gas or public transportation costs if they are not commuting, alternatively they will see a rise in personal energy bills from being home more often.
While the hybrid work concept allows for less commuting, it often requires duplication in equipment with one computer for the office and a laptop for home. Working from home has also made some feel like they need more space, causing people to move into larger homes, which require more energy to run.
It’s clear that there have been some benefits to having a large chunk of the workforce out of the office the past few years, but a lot of unknowns remain about whether we will see long term trends in environmental improvements. There are efforts that companies could choose to implement — like encouraging their employees to pledge to reduce emissions at home — but only time will tell whether a large work from home population continues to be the norm. And if teleworking will help reduce societies carbon footprint.