Working from home has become an established part of modern work models and, at the same time, is changing the spatial and temporal structure of energy consumption. This paper examines the energy and climate policy implications of increased work-from-home activity and its significance for the transformation of the energy system. To this end, three scenarios are considered: The reference scenario reflects the current proportion of the workforce working from home. A scenario with less remote work is based on pre-pandemic conditions, while the “More Remote Work” scenario assumes a proportion that would be theoretically possible according to various analyses. 

The study is based, among other things, on a survey of employed individuals who work from home. The impacts were examined for residential and non-residential buildings, work-related mobility, and information and communication technologies, and extrapolated for Germany. The results show conflicting effects: While working from home reduces commuter traffic and the associated emissions, energy consumption in residential buildings increases. The resulting additional emissions can more than offset the savings achieved in office buildings. In the “More Work-from-Home” scenario, building emissions increase compared to the reference scenario, while CO₂ emissions from transportation can be reduced at the same time. Emissions from the use of information and communication technologies, on the other hand, change only slightly; the additional hardware required plays a more decisive role.

Overall, the total emissions considered for the three scenarios are of a similar magnitude. Increased work-from-home arrangements thus lead less to a significant change in total emissions and more to a shift in their sectoral distribution. 

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