This story was created by grist Co-published with fast company.
When office workers stopped working in offices during the coronavirus lockdown in 2020, trading cubicles for living room sofas, many began to question the amount of time they were spending commuting. .Could those hectic mornings stuck in traffic be spent getting work done? The lives of people stuck at home were often lonely, but people found something to be thankful for When the chirping of birds echoes through the quiet streets. And the temporary drop in travel had the side effect of reducing global carbon emissions. 7% in 2020 — Good news in a tragic year.
emissions Rebound in 2021Although people began to resume some of their normal activities, offices were never the same.Remote work was rare before the pandemic, but now 28% of Americans work a “hybrid” scheduleare in the office some days, and 13% work remotely full time.
Recent data suggests remote work could accelerate companies' plans to reduce their carbon footprint to zero, but companies are not considering climate change in their decisions about the future of office work. Apparently not. „In the United States, unfortunately, it's not a high priority,“ said Kate Lister, founder of consulting firm Global Workplace Analytics. „It rises up there and falls again towards the next shiny object.“ Commuting trips fall under what is called a business trip. „Scope 3“ emissions, i.e. indirect sources; routinely ignoredHowever, on average, Three-quarters of Total business world emissions.
According to , a 10% increase in the number of people working remotely could reduce carbon emissions by 192 million tons per year. Research published in Nature Cities Early this month.That will reduce the country's emissions Most polluted sector, transportation, 10 percent. These findings are consistent with other peer-reviewed studies. Research shows that switching to remote work instead of coming into an office can reduce your carbon footprint by 54%. Research published in PNAS journal Last fall, the same was true even when non-commuting travel and residential energy use were taken into account.
“This seems like a very obvious solution to a very pressing, real-world problem,” said Vosper, a San Francisco-based public relations firm whose employees have worked remotely since its founding in 2015. said Curtis Sparler, president and co-founder. “And I worry that this ‘return to public office’ thing is getting in the way.”
Many companies require employees to work in-person on a regular basis.Last year, major technology companies Google, Amazonand meta Employees were told they had to return to the office three days a week or face consequences, including a reduced chance of promotion.Even Zoom, the company that rose to prominence during the pandemic for its video conferencing platform, hires employees who live within 80 miles of its office. commute 2 days a week.
![Photo of two people looking out the window at an office building](https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Amazon-office-walkout.jpg?quality=75&strip=all)
![Photo of two people looking out the window at an office building](https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Amazon-office-walkout.jpg?quality=75&strip=all)
AP Photo/Lindsay Wasson
Of course, there are many benefits to coming into an office and working alongside other humans. Interacting with co-workers in person provides social stimulation (without the awkward interruptions of Zoom meetings) and provides a compelling reason to change out of your sweatpants in the morning. From a climate change perspective, the problem is that most Americans tend to hop in their cars to work instead of hopping on bikes or buses.a Vosspar recent polls Two-thirds of Americans drive to work, and most drive gas-powered vehicles.Although electric vehicle purchases are increasing, electric vehicles still account for a large proportion of the total purchase price. 1 percent A view of cars on the road.
Once people are called into the office, the benefits of climate change begin to decline rapidly. According to his PNAS study by researchers at Cornell University and Microsoft, working from home two to four days a week reduces emissions by 11 to 29 percent compared to working in an office full time. If you work remotely just one day a week, your emissions will only be reduced by 2%. Another big factor is that maintaining a physical office space requires heating and cooling, which consumes a lot of energy.
So should companies be allowed to claim they're being environmentally friendly when they force employees to commute to work? Vosspar research shows many Americans don't think so . More than half of Millennials and Gen Z say it's hypocritical for companies to celebrate Earth Day while requiring employees to come to work in person.
Mr. Spaler points to Disney, Celebrating Earth Month In April, we conducted a campaign to promote environmental initiatives. ordered workers to come to work four days a week last year. Meanwhile, Nike promoted its Earth Day collection. “Sustainable” leather shoes Meanwhile, CEO John Donahoe argued that remote work stifles creativity. He said, „In hindsight, it turns out it's very difficult to do bold, disruptive innovations, or to develop boldly disruptive shoes on Zoom.“ he told CNBC earlier this month..
„We're entering an age of magical thinking, where people seem to think this is enough, but it's still not enough,“ Sparler said. „And what's frustrating to me is that we've all been able to experience what working from home is like and know how it works and how we can make it better. That’s it.”
However, working from home can present some challenges. Environment issues. A recent study that looked at pre-pandemic trends found that if 10% of employees started working remotely, the U.S. transit system would lose $3.7 billion annually in fare revenue, according to a study conducted in Nature Cities. was found to decrease by 27%. By researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Florida, and Peking University in Beijing. Some experts are concerned that remote work could lead to: push people out to the suburbscarbon emissions tend to be higher than cities.
Currently, many employees are forced to come into the office even though they would like to work from home full-time, Lister said. She sees her mandate to return to the office as a result of corporate leadership wanting to return to the way things were before. “As that generation retires, I think a lot of these conversations will go away,” she said.