As per Euronews.green, US-based employees who work exclusively from home reduce the carbon footprint by 54% compared to if they were to physically go to work.

However, hybrid remote work doesn't bring the big numbers in terms of emission savings, experts say, suggesting that one day of home work only reduces our footprint by 2% per individual. By working at home two days per week, you can have an 11% lower carbon emission record, while four days a week will net you 29% lower CO2 associated with your activity.

In fact, the significant emission-reductions coming from fully remote-working people come from the fact that they don't use as much energy as they do at the office. At the same time, not commuting to work has a significant impact on the personal footprint.

Co-author Fengqi You of Cornell University said that "the net benefit for working remotely is positive but a key question is how positive. When people work remotely, they tend to spend more emissions on social activities."

It also depends on what type of energy an office building may use. If, for example, an office building is running exclusively on renewables, then the carbon impact of using your computer there would be null.

Remote working in Romania

In Romania, remote or hybrid work has become ever more popular since the pandemic. In 2022, 24% of Romanian workers said they work fully away from the office, while 34% adopted a hybrid work mode. 42% of them said they returned to the office five days a week, but that's also probably due to the fact that spending so much time at home during 2020 and 2021 encouraged them to be more socially-engaged.

Some of the reasons why Romanians chose to return to the offices in such large numbers are the fact that they have relaxation areas, a personal office space large enough and also the fact that they may receive free snacks, in some cases.