homeworking emissions whitepaper 2020

Homeworking emissions whitepaper.

First ever open-source carbon calculation methodology for homeworking. download your copy today..

The impacts of coronavirus (COVID-19) have resulted in significant changes to our daily lives; affecting family life, leisure time, the way we travel and the way we do business.

An estimated 47% of UK employees – 14 million people – were reported to be working from home in April 2020 and many have stayed remote or hybrid since. It is vital that corporates account for the shifting boundaries of their operational emissions.

This paper, written in partnership with Lloyds Banking Group and NatWest Group and with special contribution from Bulb, defines a simple and easy to use process for calculating emissions of a workforce increasingly based at their own homes. The version features minor amendments to calculations as the methodology progresses. 

It provides a working methodology to complement the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol for the following three areas:

• Emissions from office equipment
• Emissions from heating
• Emissions from cooling (where geographically relevant)

Download your copy now today to get one step closer to a better understanding of the full emissions impact of today’s business operations.

“As our ways of working continue to change through this pandemic and beyond, it is essential that companies understand the full impact such changes are having on their carbon emissions.

“This year we announced ambitious targets to reduce our climate impact, which include making our operations net zero by the end of 2020. Homeworking emissions are currently excluded from our footprint calculations due to the historic lack of a clear methodology and the associated data collection challenges. Given the significant shift in working patterns seen in 2020, we feel it is important to be able to assess the materiality of the displaced emissions, enabling us to make better decisions about how we tackle them in the future.”

Natwest Group

"Lloyds Banking Group has committed to support the UK tackle climate change by helping to finance the transition to a sustainable, low carbon economy. Reducing the environmental impact of our own operations is an important part of our approach and since 2009 we have reduced our operational carbon emissions by 63%. Even before the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have supported an agile approach for our colleagues, enabling them to work from home and look at different working patterns.

While the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in a further reduction in our carbon emissions, most notably through less travel, we recognise the need to balance this against the additional emissions caused by colleagues working from home. This report is a valuable step in navigating the challenge of measuring carbon emissions associated with home working and supports organisations in taking action to tackle the threat of climate change."

Fiona Cannon, Group Sustainable Business Director, Lloyds Banking Group

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Carbon Footprint , Knowledge Article , Sustainability

The carbon emissions of homeworking and office working.

As the world has moved towards hybrid and remote working, Circular Ecology asks the question, what are the carbon emissions of homeworking and office working?

Of course, there are many variables to consider in the answer to that question, and so we will attempt to discuss them in this article. Considerations such as the size of your work or home office, how far you commute, and the transport method you use all influence the emissions of home and office working. Please note that UK specific data has been used within this assessment.

Travelling to Work

The distance travelled to and from the workplace will have an impact on the carbon results of office working. If you are commuting by car, for example, carbon emissions will increase the further you have to commute. In the 2021 Census for England and Wales , data was collected on the distances people travel to work (Office for National Statistics, 2022). The results show that most people who travelled to work, travelled less than 10km. This accounts for a one-way journey, and so this distance should be doubled to account for the travel both to and from the workplace.

Figure 1 – GHG Emissions of Varying Commutes using Transport Methods Weighted Average

Figure 1 shows the increase in emissions as the overall commute distances get longer. This is calculated using the weighted average emissions factor (shown in blue in Figure 2) derived from the census transport to work results and the DEFRA 2023 conversion factors . The 20km total commuting distance (both to and from work) has been used within this assessment and is highlighted in blue.

It is also necessary to assess how people travel to work. Again, we can look to the data from the ONS to find out how people commute. The most selected mode of transport when travelling to work was “driving a car or van” at 45.1% (Office for National Statistics, 2022). The next highest responses were “on foot” and “by bus, minibus or coach”.

The choice in mode of transport will create differences in the carbon results. For example, walking to work would not generate carbon emissions whereas driving by car would. The fuel type of the car or van can also make a difference in the quantity of emissions. For this article, we will use a weighted average from all the transport methods included in the Census results across all the main fuel types where emissions factors are available from DEFRA. The result of this weighted average is shown in Figure 2 in the blue column, for a 20km total commute.

Figure 2 – GHG Emissions of 20km Commute by Transport Method

Of course, when it comes to homeworking, there is no commute and so no associated carbon value needs to be attributed to this.

Energy Usage

For both home and office working scenarios the energy usage within the workspace will result in carbon emissions. The general setup is similar for both environments, with the need for office equipment and temperature controlling equipment such as central heating. In this respect, the main difference between home and office working is the size and layout of the space occupied.

Office-based working commonly takes place in large open-plan office spaces, for which we will need to attribute a part share of total energy use for this assessment. It is important when calculating an emissions factor for this impact that a view of the full calendar year is considered for an average value. For example, gas usage is likely to be higher in the winter due to increased heating of the workspaces, and electricity may be higher due to the need for more lighting during the working day.

Figure 3 shows the emissions factors for office and homeworking in kgCO2e per hour.

Figure 3 – GHG Emissions of Office and Homeworking per Hour

Homeworking

To establish an emissions factor for homeworking, we can refer to the DEFRA 2023 conversion factors. Defra break this factor down into office equipment and heating. To account for varying heating usage over a calendar year, DEFRA provide an annual average for heating which is estimated using data from “Typical Domestic Consumption Values 2020” (Ofgem 2020).

For the office equipment aspects of the homeworking factor, DEFRA state the following:

“Office equipment is an estimation of energy used by a homeworking employee. GHG conversion factors for electricity consumption come from the UK GHG Conversion factors model outputs for UK Electricity. There are 3 assumptions:

• assumed that a homeworking employee only uses energy for a laptop or PC, monitor, phone, printer, and lighting.
• assumed that the energy used by a homeworking employee is 140W, same as the energy used by a workstation (a laptop or PC, monitor, phone, and printer). Electricity use data for a workstation came from CIBSE Guide F (CIBSE, 2012).
• assumed that the energy used for lighting is 10W per homeworking employee (an assumption by EcoAct).” – (DEFRA 2022)

DEFRA’s combined homeworking emissions factor is provided as 0.33378 kgCO2e per hour per person .

There are several real-world variables that could affect this number such as, the size of the room utilised as a home office, the number of people working from home, and the control of heating in the home. For example, for energy saving purposes some people may switch off certain radiators in their home. Homes can also be differently insulated, and boiler efficiency may also affect the amount of energy used when working from home.

Office working

For the office working emissions factor, a study from the University of Exeter has been used. This study uses benchmark data for “general office” buildings taken from CIBSE TM46 to estimate the energy usage of an office. The study also notes that no adjustments were made to account for building efficiency, which is a significant variable in the energy usage, and that the gas heating efficiency rate was assumed to be 80%.

The office occupancy density was also required to calculate this emissions factor. The study used an occupancy report from JLL Estate Agents as well as data from CIBSE TM46. The data was used to calculate square meterage per person for i) very high, ii) high, iii) average and iv) low density offices. A midpoint of these values was then used for the emissions factor calculation to arrive at a baseline scenario factor.

The baseline scenario calculated the office working emissions to be 3.5 kgCO2e per day per person. A working day was said to be 8 hours and therefore the factor can be stated as 0.4375 kgCO2e per hour per person .

The Carbon Footprint of a Working Week

We must now consider different scenarios for a working week, to calculate and compare carbon results based on a person’s potential working patterns.

Scenario One – Office Working Only

This scenario assumes the following

• 5 days a week commuting to an office and 0 days a week working from home
• A working day is 8 hours in length (a total of 40 hours per week)
• The same commute distance to and from work is travelled everyday

When calculating this scenario, the emissions of travelling to and from the place of work and the energy use at the office are accounted for. The results breakdown as shown in Table 1 below.

Table 1 – Scenario One: Office Working Results

Figure 4 – Scenario One Carbon Footprint Breakdown

Figure 4 shows the carbon emissions for this scenario’s working week are quite evenly distributed between travel and office energy emissions, at 48% and 52% respectively. The office energy contributes just 4% more to the overall carbon footprint of 33.43 kgCO2e/week.

Scenario Two – Homeworking Only (Fully remote working)

• 0 days a week commuting to an office and 5 days a week working from home
• There is no attributed commute to the place of work

When calculating this scenario, only the emissions of energy use from the home office are accounted for, as no travel is required to a place of work. The results breakdown as shown in Table 2 below.

Table 2 – Scenario Two: Homeworking Results

Figure 5 – Scenario Two Carbon Footprint Breakdown

Figure 5 shows that as expected, the carbon emissions come solely from the homeworking energy use. The overall carbon footprint is 13.63 kgCO2e/week . This is a difference of 19.8 kgCO2e/week compared to a full working week commuting to and working in an office.

Scenario Three – Hybrid Working

• 2 days a week commuting to an office and 3 days a week working from home
• The same commute distance to and from work is travelled on office working days
• There is no attributed commute to the place of work for homeworking days

A 2022 survey found that the typical UK worker is going into the office “less than 1.5 days per week” (Advanced Workplace Associates 2022). For scenario 3, using these survey results and taking a conservative approach, it has been assumed a hybrid working week would consist of 2 days of office working and 3 days of homeworking . The results breakdown as shown in Table 3 below.

Table 3 – Scenario Three: Hybrid Working Results

Figure 6 – Scenario Three Carbon Footprint Breakdown

gure 6 shows that homeworking energy usage contributes the most to the carbon footprint of the hybrid working scenario. This is to be expected as most days of the week are spent working from home in scenario 3. If the travel and office energy use are added together to represent the office working days, this makes up 62% of the hybrid working footprint despite only being utilised 2 days per week.

Figure 7 – All Scenarios Carbon Footprint Comparison

Figure 7 shows how each of the scenarios presented might compare across a full working week. However, the reality of every individual’s working situation should be assessed against the assumptions made above before determining the option with the lowest impact.

Minimising the Carbon Footprint of Your Workplace

As our working patterns evolve, there may not be a single perfect option for minimising our workspace carbon impacts, and there are many external factors which may affect choices such as insufficient space, access to services and equipment, or personal preference. But if you are looking to reduce the carbon footprint of your workspace, or of your workforce, there are a few things you can consider for both home and office workspaces.

• Consider a green energy tariff for your home or office building
• Consider commuting via public transport, car share, or even biking or walking to work where feasible
• Be careful not to over-utilise heating or air-conditioning. Consider setting or amending individual controls on heating and radiators so they can be switched off in unused rooms
• Turn off office equipment when not in use overnight, or over the weekend
• Use energy efficient lighting such as LED
• Improve the heating efficiency of your workspace

If you would like to measure and reduce the carbon footprint of your organisation, take a look at our Organisational Carbon Footprint page.

Featured image provided royalty free from Unsplash

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Homeworking emissions – Ecoact whitepaper

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Surfacing the front-line experiences of staff as we evolve our best hybrid working practices, sharing our successes and failures, and learning from each other.

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The Carbon Impact of Homeworking

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Aisling O’Reilly, Projects Coordinator (Energy) asks: what is the impact of homeworking on our carbon emissions and will the future of work be better or worse for our planet?

The past 19 months have changed the way we work forever. The Covid-19 pandemic forced the majority of us to work from home and overall, we liked it. The University’s Home and Hybrid Working Survey showed that over 90% of staff are interested in hybrid working in future. But while we have adjusted to the new normal with Covid-19, another issue has not gone away, the climate crisis.

Early reports

In the early stages of the pandemic, there was a belief that the transition to working from home was better for the environment. With the daily commute eradicated and no offices to heat or cool, it could easily be assumed that working from home was an energy-saving solution for organisations. However, this may not be the case, as home working increased our need for home heating. Organisations took various approaches to estimate the carbon impact of this lifestyle change, leading to early reports that came to very different conclusions.

Zero Waste Scotland Report

Zero Waste Scotland

In May 2020, Zero Waste Scotland reported that from March onwards, when homeworking began, their daily carbon footprint reduced by around 73%. This was as a result of avoided commuting and corporate travel.

Zero Waste Scotland’s report

Other organisations

Conversely, other organisations, such as the environmental consultancy, WSP, reported that a worker who is based at home throughout the year could have a carbon footprint that is 80% higher than a typical office worker.

The high footprint was mainly due to emissions from central heating over the winter months. This figure of 80% was later debunked. It failed to account for multiple occupancy within a household, making emissions seem higher than what they were in reality.

To give an example, if a worker moved from the office to their home during lockdown, which was previously empty and unheated, then the use of the central heating during the day would be classed as additional. But if that worker was working from a home that was occupied and centrally heated before lockdown, then this wouldn’t impact the home heating requirements.

Office vs Home Working: How we can save our carbon footprint (WSP)

A university perspective

Bournemouth university.

Universities have also been investigating the impact of lockdown on their carbon footprint. With Bournemouth University being one of the first to share their findings. They investigated the carbon footprint for April – June 2020 (the period of the first lockdown) and compared it to April – June of previous, non-lockdown years. In non-lockdown years, the largest carbon footprint was from commuting, followed by utilities and then staff business travel.

During lockdown, the university reduced its total carbon footprint by 29%. This was due to the absence of commuting. They also noted that despite the completely shut campuses, the decrease in utilities was lower than expected, with a 45% drop in electricity and a 51% drop in gas. This highlights that substantial amounts of energy are needed to maintain university campuses even in the absence of staff and students.

Cutting-edge research has assessed the carbon footprint of Bournemouth University during the COVID-19 lockdown

The University of Edinburgh

The University of Edinburgh has not yet determined the complete impact of lockdown on its carbon footprint. However, using a methodology produced by EcoAct, the Department for Social Responsibility and Sustainability has conducted a short study, using the University’s Estates Department as a representative example.

EcoAct Homeworking emissions whitepaper

Carbon impact chart

The carbon impact, in tonnes CO₂e for an Estates Department staff member under different working scenarios

• Office-based:  1.03 tCO₂e
• Hybrid-work (two days working from home):  0.99 tCO₂e
• Home-based:   0.91 tCO₂e  

Carbon figures are based on the Estates Department, located at 9-11 and 13 Infirmary Street, housing approximately 300 members of staff. Figures account for energy consumption both at home and in the office, multiple occupancy as well as emissions from commuting. Calculated for the period August 2019 – July 2020.

As you can see above, office-based working full-time has the highest carbon footprint, home-based has the lowest, with hybrid working sitting somewhere in the middle.

There are some interesting things to note with these figures:

• The home-based figure notes that the Estates Department buildings are still consuming energy even while relatively unoccupied.
• With less than a quarter of university staff driving to work, the carbon savings for avoided commuting are not as significant for the University of Edinburgh as they are for other organisations.

Getting the balance right between transport and heating

Research recently published through ClimateXChange, on behalf of the Scottish Government, has provided more clarity on the carbon impact of homeworking.

Some of the overarching findings are outlined below:

• Domestic heating is a large emission source that can offset much of the transport emissions savings of home working.
• Larger properties with oil heating represent the worst place to work from home in terms of emissions.
• The lowest emission future is one where people commuting short to medium distances do so by public and active travel and continue to commute to the office, while people who commute long distances shift to working from home.
• The lowest emission working behaviour is a short commute to work in an energy-efficient office.

Emissions impact of home working in Scotland (ClimateXChange)

Homeworking emissions and the impact of Covid-19 on climate change is an area of research that is still evolving. However, it is becoming clear that the carbon impact of homeworking can be either positive or negative, depending on your home’s energy efficiency and your commute.

Home energy is something we can control. Check out my five tips for managing your heat at home this winter and keep an eye on Home Energy Scotland, to see what grants are available for energy-saving improvements.

To a degree, we can also control our commute, choosing active transport if we’re close to the office, avoiding the car for those commutes which are longer and keeping an eye out for forward-thinking initiatives like the NearHome Project, which aims to retrofit public spaces to create out-of-town alternatives to city-centre offices.

Another thing that is clear is that we are not alone, workplaces around the world are changing and with that comes pitfalls and opportunities. By keeping the climate crisis and our carbon impact at the forefront of our minds, we can make decisions that drive us towards a net-zero future, rather than farther off course.

• Five tips for keeping your Edinburgh home warm this winter
• Home Energy Scotland
• NearHome Project

Posted by Aisling O'Reilly

3rd November 2021

hybrid • hybrid working

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4 replies to “The Carbon Impact of Homeworking”

Great post. Keep posting such kind of info on your page. Am really impressed by your blog.

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Homeworking Emissions Whitepaper

Last updated: 2nd February 2021

First ever open-source carbon calculation methodology for homeworking.

The impacts of coronavirus (COVID-19) have resulted in significant changes to our daily lives; affecting family life, leisure time, the way we travel and the way we do business.

An estimated  47% of UK employees – 14 million people  – were reported to be working from home in April this year, and it is vital that corporates are accounting for the shifting boundaries of their operational emissions.

This paper, written in partnership with Lloyds Banking Group and NatWest Group and with special contribution from Bulb, defines a simple and easy to use process for calculating emissions of a workforce increasingly based at their own homes.

It provides a working methodology to complement the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol for the following three areas:

• Emissions from office equipment
• Emissions from heating
• Emissions from cooling (where geographically relevant)

Download your copy here today to get one step closer to a better understanding of the full emissions impact of today’s business operations.

N.B. The information contained in this entry is provided by the above supplier, and does not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the publisher

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EcoAct launches first ever open-source carbon calculation to overcome remote working emissions gap

By Susan Brownlow   |   7th October, 2020

LONDON, 7th October 2020 – International climate change consultancy EcoAct alongside major corporates today published an open source methodology for companies that need to calculate the impacts of an increasing number of employees working from home on corporate carbon emissions. The paper, written in collaboration with EcoAct clients NatWest Group and Lloyds Banking Group and following a roundtable consultation with six major corporates, aims to define a simple and easy to use process for calculating emissions of a workforce increasingly based at their own homes as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic. An estimated 47% of UK employees – 14 million people – were reported to be working from home in April this year, and as we head towards the winter months and inevitable increases in energy consumption for heating and lighting, it is vital that corporates are accounting for the shifting boundaries of their operational emissions and have a way to reliably assess them for 2020 and beyond. Research carried out in July 2020 by UK energy supplier Bulb in partnership with EcoAct, estimated that UK firms could face a 'black hole’ of 470,000 tonnes of carbon this year due to unaccounted energy use incurred by employees at home, potentially undermining the UK's long-term net zero emissions ambition. To put this into perspective, this is equivalent to flying around the world over 84,700 times in economy class. This new paper sets out a base case for three areas of emissions generated from homeworking (emissions from office equipment, heating energy and cooling energy) and provides the calculations companies need to robustly assess these emissions in their 2020 reporting. Fiona Cannon, Group Sustainable Business Director, Lloyds Banking Group said: “Even before the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have supported an agile approach for our colleagues, enabling them to work from home and look at different working patterns. While the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in a further reduction in our carbon emissions, most notably through less travel, we recognise the need to balance this against the additional emissions caused by colleagues working from home. This report is a valuable step in navigating the challenge of measuring carbon emissions associated with home working and supports organisations in taking action to tackle the threat of climate change.” NatWest Group agrees that “as our ways of working continue to change through this pandemic and beyond, it is essential that companies understand the full impact such changes are having on their carbon emissions. “This year we announced ambitious targets to reduce our climate impact, which include making our operations net zero by the end of 2020. Homeworking emissions are currently excluded from our footprint calculations due to the historic lack of a clear methodology and the associated data collection challenges. Given the significant shift in working patterns seen in 2020, we feel it is important to be able to assess the materiality of the displaced emissions, enabling us to make better decisions about how we tackle them in the future.” Most large companies choose to disclose emissions in line with the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) protocol standards. Under the GHG protocol, homeworking is currently an optional disclosure covered in the Employee Commuting (Category 7) section. EcoAct’s methodology seeks to supplement and support the GHG protocol by providing a standardised format which businesses can cite in their disclosures. The full report is accessible here: https://info.eco-act.com/en/homeworking-emissions-whitepaper-2020 About EcoAct EcoAct, an Atos company, is a international sustainability consultancy and project developer, headquartered in Paris, with 160 employees in offices across France, the United Kingdom, Spain, the United States and Kenya. The company has unmatched depth and breadth in delivering holistic solutions to enable businesses to reduce their carbon emissions while driving commercial performance. EcoAct has undertaken carbon reduction and sustainability projects for some of the world’s leading brands while also developing and partnering with carbon offset, biodiversity and economic development programmes across Africa, Asia, China and South America. EcoAct is a CDP gold partner, a founding member of ICROA, a strategic partner in the implementation of the Gold Standard for the Global Goals and reports to the UN Global Compact. For more information, visit www.eco-act.com Media contacts For a copy of the report, more information, images or interview requests please contact: Susan Brownlow PR Consultant EcoAct [email protected] Tel: 07739 456292

Words for Industry

Our Environment

Understanding the future workplace

Making sense of changing work behaviours and adapting our practices is essential to the ongoing evolution of the workplace. with this in mind, we invited our staff to complete a work from home survey in autumn 2020, in order to gain greater insight into the environmental implications of remote working..

A third ( 34% ) of our employees submitted their responses, providing invaluable data on homeworking carbon emissions across the firm. Under the Greenhouse Gas Protocol standards, homeworking is an optional disclosure. To date, many firms have not included those associated emissions in their overall sustainability reporting due to the lack of a clear methodology on which to base emissions calculations and the associated data collection challenges.

However, a homeworking emissions whitepaper produced in 2020 by international climate change consultancy EcoAct, in partnership with Lloyds Banking Group and NatWest Group, suggests that this stance will be difficult to maintain following the changes to working practices that have emerged since the COVID-19 crisis began. As a firm, we are acutely aware that our emissions output since 2020 cannot be fully accurate without accounting for homeworking emissions. Consequently, we are exploring the environmental impact of hybrid working practices at the Firm – and how we can collectively mitigate it.

The majority of our staff worked from home 90% or more of the time during the pandemic and the survey revealed that 70% of respondents working from home were accompanied by at least one other person. Although this allows us to factor in other homeworkers when considering the carbon footprint of our employees, we are working with sustainability consultancy Achill to help staff undertake a full assessment of their work from home carbon footprints.

We are confident that this will give our employees a better understanding of their areas of carbon output and help them to work in a more environmentally friendly and efficient way while providing us with essential data to support our 2030 net zero carbon commitment.

of respondents working from home in 2020 were accompanied by at least one other person Source: Charles Russell Speechlys Work From Home Survey

The Chancery Lane Project: Tackling climate change together

The Chancery Lane Project (TCLP) is a collaborative effort by a whole range of lawyers and firms to create an open source depository of contract clauses that seek to establish carbon reduction commitments in supply chains and in different sectors including property, construction, banking & finance, employment and corporate affairs.

Over the last two years, Charles Russell Speechlys has participated in the project to help drive sustainable behaviour in business and our communities – see our Responsible Business Report 2020 for more details.

TCLP is founded on the understanding that the commercial world is a vast interconnected web of contractual relationships. Feeding carbon reduction commitments into that web will cause those commitments to filter down and across the whole network. As one business contracts with various suppliers and those suppliers in turn contract with others, the chain expands. We’re keen to help spread the good news of this free-to-use resource and give guidance on its application – see TCLP for more information and in particular the incredibly useful Net Zero Toolkit.

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Home working emissions - general factors or survey results?

I have a question on home working emissions for the team there please.

I have a client who has asked their employees to complete a home working survey, which gives us their fuel type, house size, whether they heat their whole home (or just the room they work in) and numbers of days worked from home.

I have worked through this using some estimations on average household energy consumption, and the numbers are way higher than they would be by just using the generic emissions factors for home working estimations.

Do you have any advice on thoughts here on the best method to use? Obviously basing this off their own specific data is usually the best way to go, but this is making their home working emissions way higher than previous years using the DEFRA factors with a previous consultancy.

Any thoughts welcomed.

Hello Chantelle

I appreciate the question. It is a very important topic! I’m curious to see where those differences between your calculations and the official ones come from.

DESNZ (DEFRA/UK.gov) homeworking emission that you are referring to mention in their methodology that it is based on the “Homeworking emission Whitepaper” (EcoAct,2020)

You can also evade the hubspot wall by using this share url

I see 3 reasons why your emissions might be a lot higher than the ones from GovUK:

1) multiplying with total number of working hours The DESNZ department’s factors are “per FTE working hour”. So it represents the GHG emissions from one hour of work from home (but averaged out by one full-time employee for a year, averaging out seasonal fluctuations)

To get to the end result, you have to multiply the factor by the number of hours the employee works at home in a year. Taking the example from the pdf: 1920 hours per full time working year /employee. So a full full time home-working employee would result in: 1920x(0.33378) = 640.9 kgCO₂e for office equipment and heating in a year.

Which also feels about the right amount. Did the previous consultant take that correctly into account?

2) multiply with all months, not only heating months

This one is best explained by the remark on the DEFRA spreadsheet:

heating conversion factor has already taken into consideration both heating months and non-heating months. Users should multiply the heating conversion factor simply by the total “annual FTE (full-time equivalent) working hours”, instead of just the months that require heating.

If the previous consultant multiplied the heating factor only with the heating months, you might be a factor 2 off for emissions. (heating accounts for 90% of homeworking emissions)

3) Quite strict scope of the GovUK assumptions In the 2023 methodology , the assumptions behind the GovUK factors are disclosed.

The assumption for which appliances are counted are quite limited

• only energy for a laptop or PC, monitor, phone, printer and lighting are taken into account
• 140W for workstation, 10W for lighting

And additionally, they assume

• 1/3 of the homeworking employees dont cause any additional emissions (would have stayed home anyway)

If you dont follow these assumptions, you might end up in quite a different place I would assume.

Did this help to get a more complete picture?

Where do you think the major differences come from? Curious to hear what causes the discrepancy!

Related Topics

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Procedures Statement for Emission Calculations 2020

Scopes 1 & 2, office space.

Estimates must be used for the calculation of indirect emissions associated with purchased electricity, and for direct emissions associated with the combustion of natural gas for heating when organisations are unable to access primary data such as meter readings. This is common when organisations occupy leased office space, or use a hot desking membership at a coworking space.

We estimate that each employee occupies 10 square meters, in accordance with the 2010 Employment Density Guide published by the Home & Communities Agency 1 . The amount of electricity and gas consumption associated with each square meter of office space is taken from the CIBSE’s 2000 “Energy use in offices” report, assuming a typical type 3 office 2 .

When the reporter provides information with regards to leased office space we account for energy consumption for all seven days of the week so as to preclude underestimation. When the reporter is providing information for hot desking activities, we allow them to choose the number of days per week that they use the office space.

The following formula is used for estimating energy consumption associated with heating and energy in a leased office:

kWh energy used per day = m^2 occupied by employees* kWh energy per m^2 of office space per day

Total kWh energy used= kWh energy used per day* days

The estimated kWh values are then multiplied by the appropriate conversion factors as specified in the relevant publication of UK Govt. conversion factors for company reporting of greenhouse gas emissions 3 . For electricity, we account for the consumption of generated electricity, as well as losses associated with transmission and distribution, with the former being categorised as scope 2 and the latter as scope 3 (Fuel- and Energy-Related Activities Not Included in Scope 1 or Scope 2). For gas, we account for the combustion of gas for heating, which is categorised as scope 1.

The formula for calculating each of the emissions stated above is as follows:

kg CO?e = estimated energy consumed in kWh*conversion factor

Business Travel

The following applies to travel that takes place in vehicles that are not owned by the reporting organisation.

Distance based

Where practical and feasible, the reporter provides the mode of transport, and distance travelled for all business travel that occurred during the reporting period.

For each business travel activity, the distance is multiplied by the appropriate conversion factors as specified in the relevant publication of UK Govt. conversion factors for company reporting of greenhouse gas emissions 3 .

kg CO?e = distance travelled*conversion factor for mode of transport

For air travel, the distance is calculated as the great-circle distance between the airports. If the flight is over 3700 km, we use the Long-haul, to/from UK factors from the UK Govt. conversion factors. Otherwise, we use the Short-haul, to/from UK factors. We pick the relevant factor based on the class specified (Economy/Business etc).

Spend based

Where a distance-based approach is not feasible, nor practical, the reporter provides the mode of transport, and amount spent for all business travel that occurred during the reporting period. The amount spent on each business travel activity is then automatically extracted from an expenses report exported from an expense management, or accounting tool.

For each business travel activity, the amount spent is multiplied by the appropriate conversion factors as specified in the relevant publication UK Govt Environmental Reporting Guidelines publication 4 .

kg CO?e = amount spent*spend based conversion factor for mode of transport

The reporter provided details of all purchases, the category of the purchase, and the amount spent during the reporting period. The amount spent on each purchase is automatically extracted from an expenses report exported from an expense management tool called Expensify. The categorisation of each purchase is done manually.

For each purchase, the amount spent, accounting for inflation, is multiplied by the appropriate conversion factors as specified in the relevant UK Govt Environmental Reporting Guidelines publication 4 . Accounting for inflation is recommended in the publication as the spend based emissions factors are from 2009 and there have been price changes since then. Where the category of the purchase is not known, the emissions factor used is an average of all the aforementioned UK Govt Environmental Reporting Guidelines spend based factors 4 .

The reporter provides the mode of transport, distance commuted, and the number of days commuted for all employees during the reporting period. For each employee their total commuting distance is calculated using the following formula:

total distance travelled = daily distance travelled * days per week* no.weeks in period

For each employee their total commuting emissions are calculated using the following formula:

kg CO?e = total distance travelled during period*conversion factor for mode of transport

The distance values are multiplied by the appropriate conversion factors as specified in the relevant publication of UK Govt. conversion factors for company reporting of greenhouse gas emissions 3 .

Homeworking

In accordance with the GHG Protocol Technical Guidance for Calculating Scope 3 Emissions, employee teleworking has been included in Scope 3 Category 7: Employee commuting. The methodology outlined in the 2020 EcoAct homeworking emissions whitepaper 5 is used to calculate the homeworking emissions for the application period.

The first step of estimating the emissions is to establish an estimate of the total number of hours worked from home during the reporting period. The following formula is used to calculate this number:

total hours= no.employees * ((avg.working days – avg.holiday days) * avg.working day length)

With the number of homeworking hours calculated, we then estimated the emissions associated with energy consumption.

Given that estimation is required, we aim to preclude underestimation in accordance with PAS 2060 by making the following assumptions when using the methodology outlined in the 2020 EcoAct homeworking emissions whitepaper:

• 100% of employees working from home result in incremental heating energy. One or more of the employees may be working in a household where one other household member would normally remain at home in the day, but we have not accounted for this.
• No households have a green energy tariff.
• The power consumption of each workstation is 140W as calculated in CIBSE Guide F (2012), which accounts for a laptop or PC, monitor, phone and printer, though one or more employees may not have all of these devices.

For electricity consumption by employee workstations and lighting, we use the following formula, where the details of the140W, and 10W values can be found in the EcoAct whitepaper 5 .

workstation kWh=(140W * total hours) / 1000 lighting kWh=(10W * total hours) / 1000

For emissions resulting from heating, we first calculate the number of total homeworking hours that fall within the northern hemisphere heating season of October to March (6 months). This number is then multiplied by 5 kWh, as stated in the EcoAct whitepaper 5 .

heating kWh=5 kWh * total hours in heating months

The estimated kWh values for electricity consumption and heating are then multiplied by the appropriate conversion factors as specified in the relevant publication of the UK Govt. conversion factors for company reporting of greenhouse gas emissions 3 . For electricity, we accounted for the consumption of electricity, as well as losses associated with transmission and distribution. For gas, we account for the combustion of gas for heating.

The formula for calculating each of the emissions is as follows:

The reporter provides the weights in kilograms for the different waste categories such as:

• General waste (landfill)
• Paper and card (recycled)
• Plastics (recycled)
• Cans and foil (recycled)
• Food waste (composted)

The weights are then multiplied by the appropriate conversion factors as specified in the relevant publication of the UK Govt. conversion factors for company reporting of greenhouse gas emissions 3 .

• Home and Communities Agency, “Employment Densities Guide” https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/378203/employ-den.pdf
• CIBSE. “Energy use in offices” 2000, https://www.cibse.org/getmedia/7fb5616f-1ed7-4854-bf72-2dae1d8bde62/ECG19-Energy-Use-in-Offices-(formerly-ECON19
• Government conversion factors for company reporting of greenhouse gas emissions https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-conversion-factors-for-company-reporting
• Environmental reporting guidelines: including Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting requirements https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/environmental-reporting-guidelines-including-mandatory-greenhouse-gas-emissions-reporting-guidance
• EcoAct Homeworking Emissions Whitepaper https://info.eco-act.com/en/homeworking-emissions-whitepaper-2020

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Homeworking Calculator

Homeworking carbon calculator.

This homeworking carbon footprint calculator is a tool designed to help individuals understand the carbon footprint associated with working from home. It can be a valuable resource in today's world, where remote work has become increasingly common.

Tell us about your homeworking

Carbon emission, total emissions, would you like to offset with blocicarbon, minimum order.

To calculate this, the number of FTE (Full-time Equivalent) working hours of which its staff were working from home is multiplied by the conversion factor.

Please note that the heating conversion factor has already taken into consideration both heating months and non-heating months.

The homeworking conversion factors are calculated using the methodology from the Homeworking emission Whitepaper (EcoAct, 2020)

Carbon Footprint Facts about Homeworking

Commuting Savings : By working from home, the average UK employee saves about 0.86 tonnes of CO2 per year by not commuting. That's equivalent to the emissions from driving 2,240 miles in an average car.

Lighting : If you work near a window, you can significantly reduce your carbon footprint by relying on natural light instead of electric lighting. Switching to LED lights can also reduce your lighting-related carbon footprint by up to 85%.

Overall Impact : The Carbon Trust estimates that flexible working practices, like homeworking, could save UK businesses and employees over 3 million tonnes of CO2 per year by 2030. This is equivalent to taking over 1 million cars off the road.

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evolveEA’s 2020 Greenhouse Gas Audit

Like most offices, our HQ in Pittsburgh was closed for most of last year with our team working from home. Prior to 2020 evolveEA performed biannual Greenhouse Gas Audits to measure our emissions and then purchase carbon offsets to neutralize them. With big changes to how we work since the 2020 pandemic began, we wanted to see how our office emissions would compare to a “normal” year. So we performed a GHG Audit for last year, and not surprisingly, our total company footprint shrank 78% compared to emissions from 2019!

What We Calculated

We looked at the Scope 1 , Scope 2 , and Scope 3 emissions in our office and compared the data to previous years. Scope 1 includes all direct emissions from the combustion of fuels on site. Scope 2 includes all indirect emissions from the purchase and transmission of electricity. And Scope 3 includes all other indirect emissions that are a result of our operations—transportation, water usage, and waste. Scope 3 was the largest savings for us, with an 87% reduction between 2019 and 2020.

An important note is that our methodology for carbon emissions did not include energy or heating costs for employees working from home. As remote work is incorporated into our long-term strategy of becoming a hybrid office, we will need to find ways to measure the increased energy demands from home office environments. A great resource we found that goes into detail about calculating home energy costs based on workforce composition and regional data is in this Homeworking emissions Whitepaper from EcoAct.

Our 2020 Impact Report Update includes more detailed information from the audit.

How We Calculated

For the first couple of months of 2020, our commuting data was similar to that of 2019. The waste and recycling ratio also remained the same for the beginning part of the year. Everything changed on March 13, 2020 when our office held our last in-person team meeting and began to work primarily from home. The office remained accessible, with COVID precautions and cleaning procedures in place for limited occupancy.

At the end of 2020, we polled our team to see what percentage of time they worked from home and used the information to calculate commute intensities. Our custodial cleaning decreased in frequency from once per week to once per month. Gas, electricity, and water usage were ascertained from ongoing monthly bills, but were noticeably lower. Our gas usage did not change much, with the only real savings being less heating in the Fall and Winter.

The team’s Business Travel by Air was the category with the most drastic reduction in emissions: 93% ! Although some of us did feel like we would rather have had meetings and site visits in person, we have to acknowledge that air travel is the most carbon-intensive activity in our work. Our 2019 GHG audit showed the highest emissions for air travel in the company’s history because as we have grown, the geography of our projects has also expanded. Yet, 2020 taught us that we can still perform this work and put limits on travel.

Looks Can Be Deceiving

Although at first glance it appears that our office dramatically reduced its carbon emissions, this narrow comparison can be misleading. It is true that our office building’s energy use drastically decreased and business travel was sizably slimmed, however, home energy use increased across the board. This inverse is a testament to shifting energy demands, not their elimination.

According to the National Bureau of Economic Research , “Americans spent $6 billion more on at-home power consumption from April to July 2020 than during normal times, nearly offsetting a decline in business and industrial demand.”

How are evolvers Tracking Personal Emissions?

At evolve, we wanted to see how our team fared in the work-from-home era, what measures they had in place, and if anyone noticed an increase in home energy consumption in line with national data. The following are firsthand accounts from a few evolvers.

Nick has a  Belkin Energy Use Monitor that displays how many watts of electricity a device uses when plugged into it. Attached to a smart power strip that distributes electricity only when needed, Nick was able to verify his home office equipment (1 monitor, 1 laptop, printer, occasional space heater, and phone charger) has an electrical rating of 115-122 watts. He then used that data to calculate his CO2e footprint to be 119 lbs CO2e (.059 mT) utilized April 2020 to April 2019 from his home office, which is about 10 lbs a month. In energy costs, he found it to be $1/month to power his office, or about $11.84 for the year.

He also noticed a change in how he and his partner heated their home.

“Our upstairs office gets extremely hot in the winter, therefore we turned the heat down from 70-71 [degrees Fahrenheit] to 65-68 this year. Our living space is usually downstairs and that gets very cold in the winter, but we didn’t use that space as much this year.”

Claudia noted another behavioral habit that was modified during the pandemic:

“I turn down the thermostat when I leave the house, but while working from home I never left the house!”

Although this had a small effect on her heating bill, she said there was not a large difference between winter and summer utilities compared to previous years thanks to the insulation work she had done on her house before the pandemic hit.

Many of us observed a change in habits compared to previous years, from solo inhabitants or those who reside with family members who similarly transitioned to working or learning from home in 2020. Our energy bills reflect this increase in heating/cooling hours, and the increased natural gas use can lead to increased emissions depending on occupancy patterns.

“Consistently, even in spring, fall, winter, summer, I have been using more electricity in the past year than the previous.”

Even if we use green power for our electricity, which many of us do, most of our homes are heated with natural gas. When we work from our primarily Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern homes especially over winter months, that adds to our per-capita emissions.

Although a sizable difference from 2019, we know these 2020 numbers are not the full story of our team’s true carbon footprint. The methods we used to calculate our emissions were not set up to account for people working from home. As we shift toward a hybrid office model, the specifics of which are still TBD, we need to reevaluate how our data might more closely reflect actual energy consumption.

Similar to the way we have been collecting data from our team about personal commutes and business travel to track emissions, we will either need to keep track of where each of us do our work or determine a per-person average that we can apply to company emissions moving forward.

A free tool from Watershed was recently shared to help businesses calculate the impact of shifting from a work-from-home to a hybrid office, and it is a reminder of all the factors that contribute to our personal and work carbon footprint: watershedclimate.com/wfh-calculator

“Many people think the climate-conscious choice is to keep as much of the team working remotely for as long as possible,” reads an explanation on Watershed’s site . “The reality is more complicated. Remote work shifts carbon: Emissions from energy and food still exist, but at employees’ homes, where they may be better or worse than in the office.”

Future Factors

What we know at this point is that wherever we do our work in the future, we will be more intentional about how and where meetings take place. We will think more carefully about booking a flight, but it is likely that we will fly a few miles more next year than we did in 2020. And being together in a certain place may have benefits that justify the trip.

As Anna pointed out,

“It’s not just about our footprint, but our handprint, too.”

The kind of imprint we exchange, whether with communities or at conferences, has a net-positive human connection when our conversations and our work contribute to building resilient, sustainable, and empowered people, places, and processes.

Related Thoughts

• our 2019 impact report

Related Links

• Terrapass Carbon Footprint Calculator
• Hybrid Office Emissions Calculator
• EcoAct's Homeworking Emissions Whitepaper
• evolve office

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