The corona pandemic has shown us that the retreat to the home office has a positive impact on our environment. Because commuting to work every day can put a strain on our environment. Long journeys to work are often done by car.
Rising CO2 emissions pollute the air, especially during peak hours. So it helps when companies minimize commuting and business trips. This is also confirmed by LogMeIn’s GoTo study with OnePoll, in which 71.6% of Germans confirm that they think remote working is good for the environment.
Remote work helps the environment
Leaders have understood over the past few years that flexible working should be something that will continue long after the pandemic is over. The data also shows that employees not only want to work remotely, but it can also help our environment. Sustainability is an important topic these days that every company should have on their agenda. Because the new way of working alone remotely benefits sustainability and nature. The cornerstone can be a hybrid approach to the employee workplace, using collaboration solutions. By reducing business travel and employee travel in favor of virtual meetings and events, businesses can have a meaningful and lasting impact on the world around them.
According to LogMeIn, in the first year of the pandemic (April 2020-March 2021), users using GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar saved approximately 63 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions* compared to travel day-to-day or business trips. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, that figure is equivalent to saving nearly 13.8 million cars in one year, using 7.6 million homes for energy in one year, or planting one billion trees. trees.
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Holistic CSR strategy for total sustainability
Using Unified Communication and Collaboration (UCC) is of course only one aspect of a 100% sustainable business. Every company should also work on its corporate social responsibility program and turn it into concrete goals, like aiming for net zero emissions. A remote work strategy is an important first step that allows employees to work from anywhere long-term and thus minimizes the carbon footprint of employee travel.
In addition to sustainably produced and recyclable office utensils, other aspects include the use of green electricity and sustainable data centers for our own servers and cloud applications. Paper and printers should also finally be a thing of the past in order to avoid using wood resources and harmful dyes. This is the only way for a company to implement a fully green IT and office infrastructure.
The future is green
During the pandemic, the increased use of virtual meeting solutions highlights the contribution to enabling employees to work effectively from home while significantly reducing emissions. While face-to-face meetings will continue, many companies want to reduce the number of business trips and commutes by their employees. This move towards virtual interactions will help reduce time, cost and carbon footprint.
In the future, remote working solutions will play an important role in maintaining business continuity and giving employees more flexibility. They also help companies achieve their own sustainability goals. A new approach to back-to-office and business travel can have a lasting impact on their own emissions goals. This is being done by companies that continue to offer remote working and reduce business travel in favor of virtual events and meetings.
Add to that an all-digital data strategy to finally make the paperless office completely paperless. But that doesn’t have to be the end. Additionally, businesses should also think about using sustainable materials for furniture, office supplies, or giveaways. Only a holistic approach leads step by step to a sustainable company and sustainable products for customers.