Home Working. How to calculate, report and reduce emissions
As remote work becomes the new normal, businesses are increasingly tasked with incorporating work-from-home (WFH) emissions into their greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting. Understanding the environmental impact of this shift is essential for accurately reporting and reducing emissions.
In this article, we break down the sources of WFH emissions and explain how to calculate, report, and reduce them.?
Emissions Breakdown
When working from home, emissions primarily arise from electricity and heating/cooling, as well as Internet usage, devices, and even lighting. For example, increased Internet usage from video calls and additional energy consumption from multiple devices can raise an individual's carbon footprint.
However, studies have found that the carbon footprint of remote workers is generally smaller than that of office workers. The main reason is the significant reduction in commuting emissions, which vary depending on whether employees drive, use public transport, or cycle to work.?
Scope of WFH emissions
The number of reports disclosing WFH emissions has been increasing in recent years. Currently, the etOso database contains at least 62 reports that directly address “'working from home emissions” and an additional three that reference “WFH emissions”. According to the GHG Protocol, energy-related emissions from office work typically fall under scope 2 emissions (In this article, we explained how to calculate, reduce and report them efficiently.) However, in the case of remote work, emissions related to employees' activities at home are categorised as scope 3, category 7 (Employee Commuting).
Employee commuting – transportation of employees between their homes and their worksites during the reporting year (in vehicles not owned or operated by the reporting company.)
The guidance on scope 3 emissions was published in 2013 – long before the breakout of the Covid-19 pandemic that popularised remote work. So, there is no mention of WFH emissions in the protocol. However, as the optional boundary of category 7, The GHG protocol suggests “emissions from employee teleworking”.?
As more companies adopt remote work, an increasing number are choosing to report these emissions separately within their scope 3 boundaries. WiseTech Global’s 2023 Annual Report, for instance, includes a sub-category within scope 3, category 7, that tracks WFH emissions separately from commute emissions.
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How to calculate WFH emissions?
While the GHG Protocol provides principles for calculating emissions, it doesn’t offer specific instructions for WFH scenarios. It does, however, emphasise the importance of establishing a baseline emissions scenario. This baseline separates emissions that would occur regardless of an employee working from home from those directly related to WFH activities. As explained in the protocol:
"Baseline emissions occur regardless of whether or not the employee was at home (e.g., energy consumed by the refrigerator). The reporting company should only account for the additional emissions resulting from working from home, for example, the electricity usage as a result of running the air conditioner to stay cool."
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Thus, companies should focus on measuring emissions directly linked to work activities, such as electricity consumption for lighting, computers, and other home office equipment.
However, in the absence of a universal method for calculating WFH emissions, companies have adopted different approaches. Here are two examples from the etOso reports database:
According to Dropbox’s 2022 Sustainability Report, the company calculates WFH emissions by considering employee full-time equivalent across countries (Figure 2). Dropbox incorporates average energy usage for laptops, monitors, lighting, and heating/cooling, while also adjusting for regional climates. They assume that 10% of the home is used for work-related activities, and adjust for the percentage of time employees work remotely (90%) as well as the number of hours worked (using OECD data).
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In their 2023 Sustainability and TCFD Report, aberdeen gathered data via a voluntary employee survey (with an 18% response rate) to create an average emissions profile. The survey captured information on home size, working patterns, heating/cooling systems, and equipment use. abrdn then used regional energy averages to estimate emissions, accounting for differences in fuel types (e.g., natural gas vs. electricity) and energy intensity.
Adrdn, together with a few other organisations, mentions the EcoAct’s Homeworking Emissions Whitepaper as the basis for the methodology used in WFH emissions calculations. It involves estimating energy use from office equipment, heating, and cooling that wouldn't occur in an office setting. It assumes standard working hours and uses average energy consumption values for heating and cooling, adjusted for regional variations. Emissions are calculated by multiplying this energy use by the regional grid's emissions factor. Where possible, employee surveys and internal data should be used to refine these estimates.?
?WFH emissions calculations can vary widely between organisations depending on the available data and the methods used. While Dropbox relies on a model based on averages, regional climate factors, and time spent working from home, abrdn emphasises employee-specific data collected via surveys, combined with regional energy consumption patterns. Both approaches attempt to isolate the emissions directly attributable to work activities at home, but they use different methodologies to achieve this goal
How to reduce WFH emissions?
The same principles for reducing scope 2 office-based emissions can be applied here. The difference is that companies should not expect employees to voluntarily change to more sustainable energy suppliers; instead, they will need to offer incentive schemes to encourage this.
A good practice is purchasing clean energy certificates, as New Relic did, according to its 2023 Sustainability Report. The company purchased 100% clean energy for all FY22 work-from-home emissions globally, based on employees' home ZIP codes.?
Additionally, companies could incentivise employees to purchase green electricity certificates to cover their calculated energy consumption or provide incentives for switching to renewable energy suppliers, particularly for employees who spend over 50% of their time working from home.
EcoAct suggests other measures for reducing WFH emissions, such as providing energy efficiency training for colleagues, offering personal carbon footprint analysis and advice, and encouraging the switch to LEDs through subsidised schemes. Companies can also invest in more energy-efficient technology for colleagues working from home by setting green procurement requirements for all new laptops, monitors, and other devices, and incentivise the adoption of more energy-efficient heating and cooling systems.