Working virtually is having a positive impact on employee morale and productivity. But could it be working toward saving the environment, too?
According to research led by engineers from the University of Texas at Austin, just a single attendee of an in-person conference in 2019 had the same environmental footprint as 7,000 virtual conference attendees.
“One of several shared priorities in the boardrooms of the biggest companies in America is, how do we decrease our environmental footprint,” says Adam Riggs, founder and CEO of online collaboration platform Frameable. “And virtual spaces, whether you're using them temporarily for an event that you otherwise would have done in a hotel ballroom, have a huge potential positive impact on the environment.”
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In fact, a University of Michigan study found that a virtual conference held by AirMiners, an initiative to reduce the levels of carbon dioxide in the air, produced 66 times less greenhouse gas emissions than an in-person gathering in San Francisco would have due to commuting alone.
“We understand there are a lot of things that have to happen in person, and some meeting software really is far inferior to the in-person version,” Riggs says, noting that, while business travel leaves a bruising mark on the environment, the lost economic benefits shouldn’t be overlooked. “But if [companies] are willing to explore with virtual spaces like the ones we build it can have a huge uplifting impact on morale and it can also have a corresponding decrease in emissions.”
Between March and April of 2020 — the first full month workers were working fully remote — paper purchases in the U.S. dropped 90% according to 2020 research conducted by Yale’s Office of Sustainability. In turn, American companies saved $105,000 and saw 97% fewer emissions from copy machines, printers and paper purchased compared to the same time last year.
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Still, a shift to a completely virtual approach can have its own detrimental impact on the environment, according to Riggs — even if it’s less than in-person work. One hour of streaming or video conferencing can emit between 150 and 1,000 grams of carbon dioxide, depending on the service, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“We can't assume that if something happens virtually that means it's zero impact,” Riggs says, encouraging employers and employees alike to remain vigilant and educated about all of their actions’ impact on the environment. “Look at how much you're saving by doing it [virtually]. There are a lot of options, but it starts with the transparency of the information.”
