Does Working from Home Pollute? The Environmental Effects of Wfh

Simon Briole () and Emmanuelle Lavaine ()
Additional contact information
Simon Briole: CEE-M - Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - UM - Université de Montpellier
Emmanuelle Lavaine: CEE-M - Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - UM - Université de Montpellier

Post-Print from HAL

Abstract: Work-from-home (WFH) arrangements experienced an unprecedented boom since the Covid-19 crisis, raising questions about their environmental impact. This study investigates the causal effect of WFH on PM2.5 concentrations, the most harmful air pollutant globally, using high-resolution pollution data and employment records from France. We find that WFH contributes to higher PM2.5 levels, particularly in areas with a high prevalence of home-based workers. Our analysis reveals that residential emissions outweigh the reduction in transport-related pollution, leading to a net increase in air pollution. These findings highlight the need for policymakers to address the environmental challenges associated with the growing prevalence of WFH, particularly through energy efficiency improvements and cleaner residential heating technologies.

Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Published in European Economic Review, In press

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05476780

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Post-Print from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().