Emissions impact of home working in Scotland
Date
08/2021Author
Riley, Richard
Duffy, Alistair
Foster, Sam
Bosredon, Melanie
Simmonds, David
Metadata
Abstract
Working from home leads to a reduction in commuting and office emissions, and an increase in home emissions from heating. How these emission changes balance out for an individual defines their emissions impact from home working.
This report assesses the impact of home working on Scottish greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by analysing:
• the Scottish-specific emissions impact of home working; and
• the drivers in personal emissions increases and decreases from a switch to home working.
The analysis has found that if post pandemic trends result in a higher proportion of people working from home across all types of houses and commuting behaviours, the overall impact on emissions will be small. However, given Scotland’s carbon reduction targets, every emission reduction pathway should be considered and actions which increase emissions avoided.