It seems to me that remote work does a whole hell of a lot to reduce CO2 emissions
Is that really true?
When my wife started working from home, our utility bills went way up. Still need to heat/cool the place, lights are on, water is being used in the washroom and kitchen.
It's probably far less efficient to have 1,000 employees all using utilities in their own homes than have them all in a handful of buildings.
There's a good chance your home is more energy-efficient than an office building. This can go either way, and perhaps modern office buildings would win, but my experience with ridiculous behavior around heating and aircon provides a counterbalance. As for water use, I think people drink and use the restroom at the same rate, regardless of whether they're at home or in the office, so the only difference here is who's footing the bill - which is irrelevant in terms of emission reduction.
On top of commute, if you work in an office, you also probably eat out or take delivery - both being arguably much more wasteful than eating at home.
Don't forget to account for the total lifecycle in a building. Companies will fit out a new office space with company branding, furniture, etc. I suspect this happens far more often than myself making equivalent changes to my home's interior design. Which is to say, I don't move houses much and I'm not in the habit of arbitrarily rearranging partition walls.
Is that really true?
When my wife started working from home, our utility bills went way up. Still need to heat/cool the place, lights are on, water is being used in the washroom and kitchen.
It's probably far less efficient to have 1,000 employees all using utilities in their own homes than have them all in a handful of buildings.