Working from home can reduce an individual’s overall greenhouse gas emissions and may carry other advantages such as improved work-life balance; However, in some cases, remote working can lead to feelings of isolation and the development of physical and mental health issues and so employees must be supported to create healthy workspace set-ups and stay connected with colleagues; Hybrid working policies may offer the advantages of increased flexibility, whilst alleviating feelings of isolation that may arise from working at home full-time, and can still result in a reduction in emissions.

This is the second in a three-part series on whether remote working is better for the environment than office-based working. The first article in the series discussed how remote working could reduce emissions from the daily commute. In this article, we weigh up this reduction in transport-related emissions, and any possible reduction in office-related emissions, with the increase in domestic-related emissions from heating and electricity that occurs as a result of working from home. The studies indicate that, on average, reduced emissions from commuting will outweigh increased domestic-related emissions, making remote working an environmentally friendly step to take [1,2]. However, in certain limited scenarios, travelling to work via less carbon-intensive modes of transport may result in lower emissions overall than working from home.

Remote working can have a positive impact on the environment through reducing transport-related emissions. Although these reductions are likely to represent only a small proportion of transport emissions as a whole, working from home could be one part of a package of policies aimed at reducing transport emissions.

The rise of global carbon emissions over the last decade has been contrasted by the decline in pricing for photovoltaics (PV). This article elaborates on how PV can become a major tool in the battle against climate change.

The decrease in price for electricity from renewable sources causes the investment in more renewables to stagnate. This article explains the mechanism behind it and how this issue could possibly be solved.