Working from home emissions 

As you are hopefully aware, Foundation Scotland has some ambitious climate action targets over the next decade. Laura shares her thoughts on the difference we can make working from home.

Wandering around Edinburgh during the summer was a bit grim. With the strikes and the festival on simultaneously, there was trash everywhere. It made me more conscious of how much rubbish I was producing during a desperate 10-day-long attempt to avoid being 'one of those people' trying to balance something extra on top of the actual garbage mountains all along the street as people walk by, tutting and shaking their heads. 

The keep cup came back out of storage after a pandemic-induced hiatus (remember when everywhere stopped accepting them, how long ago does that feel now?). This is absolutely for the best, especially as some reusable cups, depending on what they're made of, have to be used as many as 100 times to balance the scales on the energy used to make them compared to the equivalent in paper cups. I think I was nearly there during that week alone. Anyway, in the grip of a wave of caffeine-induced anxiety near some bins by the office, I started thinking about the climate.

As you are hopefully aware, Foundation Scotland has some ambitious climate action targets over the next decade. We are looking to reduce our footprint by 42% by 2030/31, working from the 2021/22 baseline.

Interestingly, according to this baseline, over half of our emissions are connected to working from home. The move to home working is undoubtedly positive in terms of our climate impact (no more commuting, no more heating and lighting, a big old space with two people in it, no more massive round trips for panels, etc.), but that was all pre-baseline. Although we've made a significant shift in the right direction, there's more we can be doing to chip away at that 42% target.

Some of these changes are at an organisational level. For example, there's mention of looking at using energy-efficient technology for staff. Similarly, there are things like reducing car use (or continuing to try and keep it to a minimum as some face-to-face with will inevitably pick up post-pandemic) and looking at electric vehicle options where possible. But as I stood there, gazing into the ominous, murky depths of the overflowing wheelie, I wondered if there was anything I could do at an individual level to help move the dial. And maybe (as more anxieties came to join the party) I could also save some money. I sipped my totally non-essential £3.20 flat white.

The biggy is travel. I already rarely use my car for work. The office is walking distance from our flat, so my car is largely redundant save for the occasional out-of-town donor meeting or conference. Perhaps I could catch a train more instead, ideally on an electrified line. I hadn't realised until I looked that many lines across Scotland and the rest of the UK still use diesel. Every day is a school day! I guess it boils down to avoiding unnecessary journeys and using the least impactful option where possible.

How we use our tech can also make a difference, aside from ensuring we have the most efficient models. First, and something I often don't do, is actually turning off my laptop. Leaving it on standby or sleep doesn't use as much energy as actually using it, but it also doesn't use any. I'll be shutting down from now on and only plugging in the charger when I need to charge, so it's not just sucking up power all day. Switching off also comes with the added bonus of not being able to 'quickly check something' after work when I'm supposed just to be doing the 'home' bit, not the 'working from' bit.

Aside from the actual power going from the wall into the laptop, we are using all sorts of energy all day. Tech gadgets, the internet, and all the systems that support them account for just under 4% of global CO2 emissions, which is increasing. For context, estimates for the aviation industry range from about 2-3% of global CO2 emissions. Yes, I know this is a sloppy comparison, but it's interesting.

There are, therefore, also ways to save little bits here and there whilst we're working. Apparently, if you're meeting online via Teams or Zoom or something instead of in person (and are already making some fab and massive emissions savings), turning off your camera can save as much as 90% of the energy used for the call. Finding the balance between seeing a friendly face when you're working from home and switching off for long calls or large group calls could, therefore, also make a difference.

The last rabbit hole I went down was about emails. Emails have a carbon footprint! So good news, everyone, we should probably send less of them. Estimates are that a standard text email uses about 4g of carbon, but one with many big attachments can be as much as 50g. These little bits add up quickly if your inbox is anything like mine. One article suggests that if every adult in the UK sent one less unnecessary 'thanks for that' email, the country would save over 16,000 tonnes of carbon a year. According to one online calculator, that's the same as the total electricity used by about 11,415 homes for a full 12 months, all from one less email. Imagine if we all sent two less! You will all be getting less mail from me.

Swapping attachments for links also saves some here and there, and using instant messaging if it's something short or informal also helps. Also, clear out emails you no longer need, as they use energy to store. I'll be on a shame-driven mass delete of emails I have accumulated since the day I started after this.

None of these things will save us individually a ton of carbon and maybe only a few pennies on the electricity bill, but if we all did it as well as the big things like travel, we'd be nudging away at that 42%.

There's all the usual household stuff you can do too. Although these aren't all counted in the working-from-home baseline (lots of these happen outside of your activities involved in working for Foundation Scotland), they're handy to consider. I'm by no means doing all of these at a given time, and I've drafted this next paragraph three times to try and make it sound less preachy with little success. Please read the following and know I do not imagine myself as any kind of authority on the matter.

You can have a look at a renewable energy provider. You could investigate making your home more energy efficient. Avoid unnecessary plastics, or as this week has taught me, trash of any kind. Try to recycle what you're not able to avoid. Drive and fly less, walk and cycle more. Eat less meat, and source locally. It's all the better for us, either physically, emotionally, or financially, as well as the planet. It comes down to actively trying to be more conscious of our energy use and using what we need more efficiently.

We had already made some of the easy wins in 2020/21 due to changes made during the pandemic, so we are unfortunate that the 42% will be the trickier 42%. If I've learned anything from the awful reality TV weight loss shows of the early 2000s (besides that the media is wholly responsible for the negative body image of my entire generation), it's that the first few kgs are easy to shift and then comes the real work. It's the same with the climate. However, we are super fortunate to be part of an organisation actively thinking about and attempting to address our environmental impact and sticking with it. We are past the point of easy wins and into the real change bit. But little changes often snowball into big changes, so if we all start thinking about it, we'll get there.

I'll be off now to rinse my keep cup.