Factbox: how companies count remote work in their carbon footprint

An exhaust emits fumes as a car drives through Richmond in London, Britain December 2, 2016. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls

May 5 (Reuters) – Reuters polled 20 large companies that are both reporting their carbon footprints and embracing remote working to find out whether they estimate the carbon emissions of employees’ home offices.

Half of companies are measuring the impact of remote working, with at least seven taking action in response, while the other half have done nothing. Here are more details on how businesses are coping with the difficult intersection of home offices and climate change. Read more

Atlassian Corporation Plc (TEAM.O), a maker of collaboration software, estimated emissions of 3,365 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (mtCO2e) in the year ending June 30, 2021 from working at distance from its more than 6,000 employees that year. Combined emissions from commuting and working remotely fell 32% from the prior year period. Its goal of running on 100% renewable energy does not apply to remote work, but it assesses how to address remote work emissions.

Fidelity Investments Inc, a Boston-based financial services company, estimated 29,505 mtCO2e in 2020 of its 49,000 employees working remotely that year. He did not count emissions in his carbon footprint.

Google, a unit of Silicon Valley tech company Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), estimated 56,000 mtCO2e in 2020 of its 135,000 employees working remotely that year. Its goal of running on carbon-free power 24/7 by 2030 doesn’t apply to remote work, but it buys high-quality carbon credits to offset emissions from the home office.

Meta Platforms Inc (FB.O), owner of Facebook, estimated 61,000 mtCO2e in 2020 for commuting and remote work for its approximately 58,600 employees that year. Combined emissions decreased by 32% compared to the previous year. It perfectly matched the electricity consumption of remote work with renewable energy purchases.

Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), the US tech giant, estimated 80,000 mtCO2e for the year ending June 30, 2021, of commuting and remote working for its 181,000 employees. It takes remote working into account in its goal to more than halve indirect emissions between 2020 and 2030.

Netflix Inc (NFLX.O), the video streaming service, said it included estimates of emissions from remote work in its 2020 carbon footprint, but declined to give further details.

Okta Inc (OKTA.O), a San Francisco-based software company, estimated 2,167 mtCO2e for the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 2021, a combination of employee travel and remote working by its 2,800 employees. It fully matched remote work electricity consumption with renewable energy purchases in the fiscal year ending January 31, 2022.

Salesforce.com Inc (CRM.N), a San Francisco enterprise software maker with more than 73,000 employees, estimated 22,000 mtCO2e for the year ending Jan. 31, 2021 from remote work. It excludes electricity from remote work from its goal of using 100% renewable energy, but has offset all emissions from remote work from the year ending January 31, 2022.

Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO), a developer of commerce tools, estimated the remote work of its more than 7,000 employees at the time to be 1,300 mtCO2e in 2020. It has perfectly adapted the electricity consumption of remote work with renewable energies.

Siemens AG (SIEGn.DE), a German industrial giant, estimated 22,000 mtCO2e for the financial year ended September 30, 2021 of the remote work of its 303,000 employees. It counts remote working in its goal of reducing scope 3, or indirect, emissions by 15% by 2030 compared to 2019.

Twitter Inc (TWTR.N), a San Francisco social media company, has not yet released results, but said it has developed “a program that measures carbon emissions across the supply chain of Twitter, including broadcasts from workers’ home offices and Twitter rentals”. office spaces.”

Dropbox Inc , an online storage provider in San Francisco, said it was committed to tackling global warming and exploring different reporting options, including to account for remote working.

Fujitsu (6702.T), a Japanese tech conglomerate, said it is considering factoring remote work emissions in the future.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc (MMC.N), a New York-based professional services giant, said it was researching the best options for measuring remote work emissions as standards were refined.

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co, a financial services vendor in Columbus, Ohio, said its “in-home reporting method is not ready for prime time” and that it will adopt “new best practices” in emissions accounting as it gains more experience with hybrid working.

Recreational Equipment Inc, a U.S. outdoor equipment retailer also known as REI, said it is continually improving its emissions reporting and expects uniform industry standards to account for remote working.

US online retailer Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) as well as London-based consulting titan PricewaterhouseCoopers and San Francisco bank Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N) did not estimate remote work emissions and all declined to say if they would start doing so.

US technology company Apple Inc (AAPL.O) said it had not estimated remote work emissions because “we expect these emissions to be small relative to our carbon footprint and we continue to evolve our methodology. “.

Reporting by Paresh Dave; Editing by Lisa Shumaker

Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.