The shift to remote working from suburbs and the countryside due to the Covid-19 pandemic could lead to a huge rise in carbon emissions, according to Taylor Francis of decarbonisation platform Watershed.
The trend could increase migration from cities and lead to less sustainable lifestyles, he told Dezeen.
"One of the best tools we have in decarbonisation is urbanism," said Francis, who is co-founder of Watershed, which helps large companies eliminate their emissions.
"Everyone who lives in a city is way lower carbon than people who live in suburbs."
Remote working could be "quite negative" for climate change
Many companies claim their work-from-home policies have led to lower emissions but that is not necessarily the case, Francis said. "One thing we're really concerned about is whether this kind of shift to remote work is actually incentivising people to move from San Francisco and London out into more suburban areas where they get a bigger home and buy an SUV," he continued.
"That's the way in which remote work could actually be quite negative from a climate impact perspective."
Taylor Francis of decarbonisation platform Watershed
Remote working could also lead to more work-related travel if companies arrange regular offsite gatherings, he added, pointing to a free calculator on Watershed's website that helps calculate the climate impact of their remote-working policies.
"If we're all going to be doing this sort of t...