Remote work could cut hundreds of millions of tons of carbon emissions from car travel—but at the cost of billions lost in public transit revenues, according to a new study.
Using the latest data on remote work and transportation behavior since the pandemic upended work arrangements, researchers at the University of Florida, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Peking University revealed how cities could meet their sustainability goals by promoting remote work.
The researchers found that a 10% increase in remote workers could lead to a 10% drop in carbon emissions from the transportation sector, or nearly 200 million tons of carbon dioxide a year across the U.S., thanks to fewer car trips. But the same proportion of remote work would reduce transit fare revenue by $3.7 billion nationally, a whopping 27% drop.
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