Remote Work — A solution to improve city air quality and reduce CO2 commute emissions

Peter du ToitI'm the founder of FutureWork IQ where I spend my time assisting businesses to improve their climate literacy so as to understand the projected impacts from the expanding climate crisis and how to adapt their workplaces in the face of these impacts.

Satellite images during lockdowns and forced remote working show a dramatic reduction of nitrogen dioxide in cities.

Remote work is a solution to improving city air quality and reduce emissions. It’s time to require all who can to work remotely.

These images support the conclusion in this 2017 paper entitled The relationship between teleworking, traffic and air pollution

“Compared to these [other] solutions, teleworking can be an effective solution for traffic reduction and air quality improvement, which can be implemented IMMEDIATELY [emphasis mine] and at a fraction of the cost with short- and long-term benefits for the society. The distance travelled for business can be also lower through the increased use of teleconferencing and video conferencing, which are parts of the [sic] teleworking. In addition, the reduction of traffic and air pollution can have positive effects on environment and public health. Moreover, air quality improvement reduces the hospital admissions and the related inpatient and outpatient costs, through the improvement of health status.”