Polluting Less Thanks to Remote Work? It All Depends on How You Do It

Working without leaving home: a wish that has become reality for millions of employees thanks to remote work. In 2023, according to the IGEDD (General Inspectorate for the Environment and Sustainable Development), 19% of French employees adopted remote work and chose to work from home at least one day per week.

Acting for the planet without leaving your couch thanks to remote work?

For the past few years, remote work has played a key role in reducing our carbon footprint. According to the Ministry of Ecological Transition, one day of remote work corresponds on average to 4.5 kg of CO₂ avoided.

Even more striking: according to ADEME (the French Agency for Ecological Transition), switching to three days of remote work per week would reduce fine particle emissions from road traffic by 58%.

The environmental benefits of remote work don’t stop there: this practice, adopted by 46% of French people at the peak of the COVID-19 crisis, contributes to significantly reducing companies’ energy consumption. Indeed, still according to ADEME, when remote work is paired with closing offices at least one day per week, energy savings (heating, ventilation…) can reach 20% to 30%.

Good news: these energy savings have very little impact on remote workers’ personal consumption. According to IFPEB (French Institute for Building Performance), the rebound effect resulting from increased home energy use among employees does not exceed 3.5% to 7%.

The boomerang effect of remote work: fewer commutes, more digital pollution

However, while remote work appears to be a promising ecological lever, it is not without rebound effects.

To truly assess the environmental impact of remote work, we must take into account its other effects.

According to a study by the agency, the widespread adoption of remote work has led to increased demand for digital equipment, the manufacturing of which is energy-intensive and highly polluting (200 kg of CO₂e emitted for the production of a laptop). And the accumulation of connected devices in households contributes to the rise of electronic waste, among the most polluting.

Still according to ADEME, digital pollution now represents 4.4% of France’s carbon footprint, on par with the civil aviation sector. This figure could triple by 2050.

According to Daria Marchenko, founder of the EcoistClub mobile app, an employee who, over one year of remote work, uses their computer fifteen hours per week while keeping their camera and microphone on would emit the equivalent of a 270-kilometer car trip.

Reducing the carbon footprint of remote work: what solutions?

To maximize the ecological benefits of remote work, action must be taken at multiple levels. Environmental labels such as TCO Certified (created in 1992 by the Swedish organization TCO Development, and the world’s first certification for IT products) encourage companies to choose durable and less energy-intensive digital equipment.

At the individual level, adopt simple habits:

• Unplug unused equipment: devices left charging consume unnecessary energy, which increases your CO₂ emissions… and your bill.
• Use Wi-Fi instead of 4G/5G for videoconferencing or data transfers, as it is significantly less energy-intensive. You can even connect your devices via an Ethernet cable to reduce your consumption further.
• Optimize your emails: limit the number of recipients (sending an email to 10 people multiplies the environmental impact of the message by 4) and use platforms such as SwissTransfer, which limit attachment storage time.
• Create bookmarks for frequent searches: a web request made from your browser history or favorites emits far fewer greenhouse gases than a request sent to a search engine—or an artificial intelligence.
• Close unused tabs: browsers continuously refresh open pages, which relies on highly energy-intensive servers. There are also extensions that put inactive tabs to sleep, such as Auto Tab Discard.
• Reduce the emissions from your online meetings: favor audio over video, especially for routine exchanges. A 10-person videoconference lasting 1h30 generates about 1 kg of CO₂e, equivalent to an 8-km car trip. It is also important to choose your videoconferencing app wisely. In 2022, the Nantes-based company Greenspector published a chart comparing carbon emissions of different platforms (Skype, Zoom, Google Meet…): the differences are staggering.

As ADEME’s study reminds us, “remote work offers considerable potential to reduce mobility, with positive effects on congestion and greenhouse gas and pollutant emissions.” Nevertheless, the growing adoption of this practice comes with unexpected consequences: fewer commutes, fewer CO₂ emissions… but more digital pollution and electronic waste. To maximize the benefits of remote work, let’s adopt simple habits: turn off devices in standby mode, limit video use, and invest in eco-designed equipment.

References:

• IGEDD – The territorial impacts of remote work: a blind spot in public policies?
• Ministry of Ecological Transition – Remote work: how many tons of CO₂ are avoided?
• Act for Ecological Transition – Remote work: what does it change for the planet?
• ADEME Library – Characterizing rebound effects induced by remote work
• ADEME Magazine No. 175 January 2025 – The very real impacts of digital technology
• Greenspector – The impact of our videoconferencing usage on mobile and PC! (2022 edition)
• Firefox Browser Add-ons – Auto Tab Discard

[Cover photo: Clay Banks]