engleski

The impact of remote working on climate change

A global pandemic and climate change concerns marked the start of the 3rd decade in the 21st century. The overall impact of 2020 pandemic has significantly changed the labour market, which meant working from home for a large number of employees both in the public and private sectors worldwide. It became clear that the labour market changes were going to be more permanent and have longer impact than it was expected at first. Companies and employees have been adapting to the new situation with varying success. Flexibility, lower costs, and work-life balance are evident benefits of remote work but working from home can also make a notable effect on the environment. This potential positive environmental effect can be observed in the context of strengthening the response to the threat of climate change. Record atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations and consequent global warming will have long- lasting repercussions for the total world population according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Besides greenhouse gas emissions and global heating, the environment is troubled with general energy consumption, paper, and plastic consumption. The objective of this paper is to find possibilities to make positive effects on climate change by moving from traditional work in offices to work from home. The first premise in working from home is less commuting, which means less greenhouse gas emissions. Lesser power consumption can be considered as the second advantage of remote working. According to the World Economic Forum, the power consumption has gone down from the COVID-19 pandemic, even though the level of reduction was not as high as expected. In 2020, paper production went over 350 million tons using more than 42% of cut trees. Remote work means digitizing documents and less paper usage on a global level. Paperless work can also have a positive effect on cutting greenhouse gas emissions substantially because one saved tree can remove up to 6.67 kilograms of carbon dioxide from the air. Reducing plastic consumption is not directly connected to remote working, but half of the plastic produced on a global level is single-use plastic, and working from home can cut the use of plastic in offices. In conclusion, remote working can be a step in the right direction in fighting climate change.

remote working, climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, paper, and plastic consumption

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