What impact have COVID-19 induced changes in working practice had on greenhouse gas emissions? A rapid review

Abstract

The changes in working practice over the pandemic went through several distinct phases: the initial ‘lockdown’ period, a period of relaxation in some restrictions, and a longer-term period where working from home (WFH) was preferred if possible but many other aspects of life returned to near-normal. This Rapid Review was accompanied by high level life cycle assessment (LCA), to quantify the environmental profile of products, processes and behaviours based on energy use and commuting activity of office workers over a 7 day period. We aimed to describe trends in environmental effects, specifically regarding greenhouse gas emissions relating to energy usage and commuting behaviour, during the pandemic. For the rapid literature review, 32 studies were identified. § Rapid Review findings corroborated the life cycle assessment findings that energy for space heating (both at home and in the office) and transport dominated the greenhouse gas emissions profile.§ Domestic energy consumption remained elevated after easing restrictions with a displacement of energy normally consumed in business premises.§ Overall, there was a net reduction in consumption and greenhouse gas emissions with greater working from home.§ There has been a shift away from public transport with a negative effect on greenhouse gas emissions.§ Travel distance and mode of transport are significant factors in determining the magnitude of benefits seen when working from home.§ Air quality is reported to have been affected by the lockdown period, but no studies have directly evaluated the working from home component of this.For the Life cycle assessment, analysis was based on 10 workers at home or in an office in typical UK housing and a typical office with two transport options for commuting (car and train), over 7 days. A clear benefit was seen in reducing greenhouse gas emissions for working from home compared to office work with travel by car, and a smaller benefit for working from home compared to office work by train. The working from home scenario had significantly lower impact than both the car and train commute scenarios on marine ecotoxicity and freshwater ecotoxicity indicators.