12 June 2020
Businesses will underreport 470,000 tonnes of carbon in 2020 as a result of remote working
The energy supplier Bulb and consultancy Ecoact have partnered together to research the impact of the UK’s coronavirus lockdown on corporate sustainability reporting. Using information from the Office for National Statistics coupled with figures from the National Grid they have discovered that domestic electricity is up 25% year-on-year resulting in an additional 100,000 tonnes of carbon generated through their home electricity usage since March. 370,000 tonnes are further attributable to household gas which is claimed to be a conservative estimate.
Edie write in their article here that it is, for the most part, optional for companies to record and report on carbon emissions generated by employees at home, and Bulb are calling for these rules to be shifted so that meaningful carbon reduction initiatives can be set.
At IMS we believe that continued discourse on carbon reporting may depend on the extent to which permanent changes arise as a result of working from home policies and that carbon reporting for 2020 may give rise to some unusual results.
