Introducing Workwell PCS. Part 2: CLIMATE
“Home working may lead to unpredictable increases in non-work travel and home energy use that outweighs the gains from reduced work travel.”
Hook (2020)
Welcome to part two of our series introducing you to the insights and motivation behind Workwell’s People Climate Society approach towards developing future ways of working and workplace transformation and strategy.
Why climate?
Businesses are considering the impact of hybrid working on productivity and wellbeing. But what will the climate impact be?
Following COP26, the UK government will require most big businesses to start publishing their net zero transition plans by 2023(1, 2). It won’t be just large firms that do this. Most businesses now, regardless of size, are setting out their environmental approach, driven both by their values and for marketing and recruitment purposes.
Research has shown that working from home is expected to help reduce carbon emissions. However, most studies have only looked at car usage, not at the secondary effects of working from home. It’s not as simple as measuring the carbon impact of commuting and business travel. If we are going to make an informed decision we need to dig deeper: we also need to consider several other aspects of people’s work and home lives.
Some hybrid working climate impact facts …
People who are able to do hybrid working are more likely to move out of cities (3)
People who live in rural areas drive more
Those working in poorly insulated homes turn the heating on more
Modern offices are significantly more energy efficient than most UK homes
Each unused desk in an office is equal to the creation of approximately one tonne of unnecessary CO2 every year (on average) according to the CIBSE (4). The same carbon impact as driving a diesel car 6,000km.
In the UK in 2018, the annual carbon footprint was approx.
4 tonnes for city dwellers (5)
Over 6 tonnes for people living outside cities
On a typical workday, home working is associated with:
71% reduction in use of public transport
360% increase in car journeys of < 10 miles
So what do we need to consider?
This is not an exclusive list, but just some of the variables that may effect each employee and each organisation’s carbon footprint.
Method and frequency of travel to office.
Type of energy/fuel used if private car or motorbike.
Distance between home and office, which tends to increase when people move further away from office as a result of hybrid working.
Business travel frequency and mode.
Office energy consumption (operational carbon).
Embodied carbon of unused furniture and equipment in offices.
Home energy consumption (heating, cooling, lighting, electricity).
Type of home location – urban or rural.
Seasonality.
Indirect effects such as increase in non-work travel e.g. driving their children to after school activities.
How to encourage climate friendly behaviours.
Nearly two thirds of the reduction in emissions required to achieve net zero will rely to some degree on behavioural change(6). Despite little acknowledgement thus far, employees have a role to play in caring for the climate during their working day. They need to be motivated and feel that changes are achievable. This might involve employing methods such as gamification to help us towards the net zero workplace. While employees need to adjust their own behaviours, it’s up to businesses to encourage and enable those behaviours. Ideally they would start with a climate friendly culture and values, embedding this into their ESG goals. Importantly this will also help with attracting and retaining climate conscious employees. We recommend measuring attitudes and perceptions towards the climate as well as educational efforts to prioritise the 9 Rs of sustainability(7). Examples might be to reduce single use plastics or business travel, incorporate behavioural nudges into workplace design, or simply provide facilities to support active travel.
The integral role of technology.
Smart building technology and dynamic booking systems have become a critical tool for office space optimisation, thereby reducing the amount of space, furniture and energy required. Systems comprising of both software and hardware will allow workspaces to effectively manage office space utilisation, publishing busy and quiet times and enabling choice. Not only can the technology result in significantly reduced climate impact, it will also produce cost savings and improve employee experience and wellbeing.
The next in this introductory insight series, Part 3. Society, will give you the lowdown on how ways of working have a significant impact on wider society, and will touch upon some of the ways you can mitigate any risks. Join our mailing list or follow us on Linkedin to see when it is published. You can also read the first in this series, Introducing Workwell PCS. Part 1: People here.
References:
Climate Change Committee (2021) COP26: Key Outcomes and Next Steps for the UK.
UK Government (2021) Net Zero Strategy: Build Back Greener .
Quinio & Rodrigues (2021) Net zero: decarbonising the city – Centre for Cities.
Hong (2018) Analysing trends of energy use of offices and schools using display energy certificates. In: CIBSE Technical Symposium, 12-13 April 2018, London UK.
Hook et al (2020) A systematic review of the energy and climate impacts of Teleworking, Environ. Res. Lett. 15.
Climate Change Committee (2021), Progress in reducing emissions, 2021 Report to Parliament.
Potting et al (2017), PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, Circular Economy: Measuring innovation in the product chain.
