The environmental impact of remote working: insights from a survey conducted in Banca d'Italia

Dario Alessandro de Pinto (), Donato Milella (), Daniele Macali (), Riccardo Basile, Carmen Lavinia (), Giovanni Murano, Marco Rao, Roberta Roberto, Andrea Tortora and Alessandro Zini
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Dario Alessandro de Pinto: Bank of Italy
Donato Milella: Bank of Italy
Daniele Macali: Bank of Italy
Riccardo Basile: ENEA
Carmen Lavinia: ENEA
Giovanni Murano: ENEA
Marco Rao: ENEA
Roberta Roberto: ENEA
Andrea Tortora: ENEA
Alessandro Zini: ENEA

No 999, Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) from Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area

Abstract: The study estimates the variation in greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the adoption of a flexible work organization, using data from a survey conducted among Banca d'Italia's employees and a calculation tool developed by the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA). The average per-capita GHG emissions for employees' home-to-work commuting were found to be 4.1 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent (kgCOâ‚‚e) for each day worked in the office. GHG emissions associated with additional household energy consumption due to heating, cooling, computer use and lighting amount to 1.1 kgCOâ‚‚e for one day of remote work. Overall, the use of remote work had a net positive impact on the environment. The study also provides an estimate of the average GHG emissions due to increased domestic energy consumption for one day of remote work, broken down by climate zone, which can potentially be used by other companies and institutions to calculate the Scope 3 GHG emissions associated with remote work.

Keywords: remote work; telework; greenhouse gas emissions; home-to-work commuting; commuting; hybrid work model; energy consumption during remote work; Scope 3; GHG Protocol (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D13 H83 J22 M54 O33 R11 R41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-01
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_999_26

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