Increased home office working can save up to 3.7 million tons of climate-damaging greenhouse gases per year. That's according to a study by the Öko-Institut, which looks at the ecological and social impact of mobile working in the pandemic. In doing so, the researchers also take into account the fact that commutes still have to be made at times.
Regardless of the choice of transport mode, and starting with just one day of home office per week, the greenhouse gas balance could drop, he said. "Even after the pandemic, therefore, a mix of office presence and mobile working can be beneficial from an environmental perspective, saving around one million tons of greenhouse gases even in the most conservative scenario - with 20 percent home office. That's roughly equivalent to the emissions produced by 370,000 cars in an average year," says Konstantin Kreye, an expert on climate protection and mobility at the Öko-Institut.
For the study, the researchers compared, among other things, traffic-related emissions with emissions caused by the equipment and operation of laptops and the like at home. The full working paper "Working in a home office - good for the environment and employees?" from the Öko-Institut is available free of charge at oeko.de/fileadmin/oekodoc/compan-e_Homeoffice.pdf.
Source: oeko.de
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