Working from home full time would cut public service emissions significantly: report

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Just over a month after federal public servants were forced back into their offices at least three days a week, a report by Carleton University researchers found that letting government workers in the Ottawa area work from home full time would reduce their workplace emissions by 25 per cent.

The report—which was funded by the federal government and surveyed more than 1,500 employees from the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS), Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) and the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA)—compared the carbon footprint of government workers in the National Capital Region (NCR) and Quebec when working from home and the office. Researchers concluded that working remotely significantly cut down those emissions.

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“The results show that the fully in-person work model has the highest emissions due to the increased emissions associated with transportation,” said the report, which was conducted by the university’s department of civil and environmental engineering. “Regarding offices, portfolio divestment plans can significantly contribute to reducing emissions for hybrid work models and full telework scenarios.”

The survey included questions on workers’ commutes, home sizes and thermostats. The survey results, which were gathered between December 2023 and February 2024, found that government employees who telework full time had “significantly less” emissions associated with transportation, potentially slashing them by more than 60 per cent. Those working from home full time saw an increase of energy use at home by less than 10 per cent and the emissions associated with the internet of telework were “negligible.”

The report said that, in the NCR, the largest source of emissions was associated with homes, which largely rely on natural gas, though teleworking has had hardly any impact. In Quebec, the report found that the highest emissions were from transportation due to cleaner energy systems. In that province, letting public servants work from home full time could reduce emissions by 64 per cent, the report said.

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Earlier this month, Treasury Board President Anita Anand announced the government’s commitment to buy at least $10 million in carbon dioxide removal services by 2030 to help reach its goal of net-zero emissions in government operations by 2050.

In an email, TBS spokesperson Martin Potvin said “fighting climate change is a priority for the Government of Canada.” He said that the government was working to estimate and track employees’ commuting emissions and that the government “continues to promote and support active transportation and other modes of low-carbon commuting.”

Nathan Prier, the president of the Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE), said the report was a “pretty definitive study” that is within a bigger ecosystem of research on the impacts of remote work. Prier recently called on a parliamentary committee to investigate the “failures surrounding the return-to-office policy.”

“I’m glad to hear that there’s research saying what seems like the intuitive answer that if you’re taking thousands of people off the roads every day, then that’s probably gonna reduce emissions,” Prier said. “We think we’re going to win remote work, we’re certainly going to fight hard for it.”

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CAPE and other public sector unions have been fighting the federal government’s three-day return-to-office rules since they were announced in May. They came into effect in early September.

The report offered several recommendations “to ensure that hybrid or telework work models remain sustainable and contribute to a greening plan,” including enhancing public transportation by offering discounted or free passes for government employees who use it regularly and providing “educational resources and incentives” for workers to implement energy-saving practices while working from home.

“The changes between the remote and in-person employees’ emissions are 25 (per cent) and 64 (per cent) lower in the NCR and Quebec,” the report said. “As a result, telework is a sustainable alternative to traditional work models with conventional office space.”

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