Is Working From Home More Sustainable?

Julie Starr • November 12, 2021



The work-from-home revolution has well and truly begun. The people leading the charge for shifting towards a totally work-from-home state will often cite many of its supposed benefits. Amongst the advantages listed, there will always be claims of it being more sustainable and eco-friendly than working in an office. 

What we’re interested in is getting to the truth of the matter. Is this actually an accurate statement? Is it better for the sustainability of your business to have everyone working remotely, rather than all coming to an office? Let’s look at the main arguments and points…

No commute

One of the biggest reasons people say working from home is better for the environment is that it removes the need for commuting . Picture a world in which nobody commuted to the office every day – think about how many carbon emissions would no longer be released into the atmosphere. In all honesty, there are no arguments against this point. Yes, working from home will reduce your carbon footprint by making you drive less. The impact can be considerable if you have employees living over an hour away from the office – that’s over two hours of commuting ripped to shreds each day, equating to ten hours a week or forty hours a month. Think about how many carbon fumes this prevents!

Yes, you can argue that employees traveling to work in electric vehicles or via bikes won’t create carbon emissions anyway. However, it’s pretty hard to guarantee or enforce a rule where people can only commute these ways. 

Lower energy consumption

Another argument is that less energy is consumed when working from home, compared to being in an office. Again, this can be an accurate claim. There have been studies that show that – in the majority of cases – working from home can cut energy use . It’s because you use fewer devices when everyone is working from home, and you can also call upon everyone’s individual energy consumption. For example, you have no need to power a whole room full of computers or servers in an office. Instead, each individual has their own device at home – which might have eco-friendly settings to use up even less energy. 

Not only that, but you have to take things like lighting into account as well. In an office, you’ll probably light the entire space for the entirety of the day. Even with efficient lighting, that equates to a lot of energy being consumed throughout the week. At home, you only need to light the space you’re working in. Thankfully, nobody needs a lot of space at home anyway! Think about it, everything you could possibly need is all on one device. You can access your accounting software, marketing software, employee recognition software , HR software, and so on. All you need is a small space to work at a desk – which can be in your bedroom, kitchen, or home office. This means the rest of your home can remain in darkness during the day, reducing energy consumption. 

What about winter energy consumption?

At this point, everything looks great. Working from home is surely more sustainable as you use less energy and cut down on commutes. However, things get a bit harder in the winter. There has been research that suggests working from home uses more energy in the winter months because of heating demands. Energy consumption referring to your devices and lighting doesn’t change, but you use more energy when heating your home. 

It’s believed that this is down to the heating systems in homes and offices. With an office, you have a more sophisticated system that’s designed to heat your office space as efficiently as possible. You also have the benefit of being part of a larger building, meaning you get more heat from other offices around you. When everyone works from home, you have each individual home using their heating system to stay warm. It can mean that more energy is used throughout winter, making working from home less sustainable than you initially thing. 

Nevertheless, in conclusion, you should view working from home as a better solution for the environment. The only issue is the winter cold snap, but you can find ways around this. For instance, introduce flexible working where people come to the office for a few days per week in the winter. Or, educate your employees on how to cut their energy consumption at home when it gets cold. The bottom line is that, over the course of 12 months, working from home will be more sustainable. It’s just that you should be aware and more conscious of your energy consumption at home when it gets cold.

Greener Clicks: How to Reduce Your Environmental Impact with Sustainable Digital Marketing

By Julie Starr • March 31, 2025
In the race to decarbonize our world, one area often overlooked is digital marketing. While it might seem inherently clean compared to print or physical campaigns, our online activities have a real and measurable environmental footprint. From servers powering your website to emails filling up inboxes, every click, stream, and scroll contributes to carbon emissions. At Taiga Company, we believe digital strategies can be powerful and low-impact. Here’s how to get started. Optimize for a Low-Carbon Web Why it matters: Websites and digital ads are hosted on servers that consume electricity, often powered by fossil fuels. Every time a user loads your site or ad, it uses energy. How to reduce your impact: Host green: Choose web hosts that use renewable energy or offset emissions. Clean up your code: Streamlined, efficient code reduces load times and energy use. Compress and reduce images: Smaller files mean faster pages and fewer emissions. Limit heavy media: Videos and animations are carbon-intensive; use them mindfully. A faster, leaner website isn’t just better for the planet—it also boosts SEO and user experience. Email Marketing with Intention Why it matters: Every email sent, received, and stored requires energy. Multiply that by millions of sends, and the impact adds up. How to reduce your impact: Clean your lists: Remove inactive subscribers to avoid waste. Segment wisely: Only send emails to those who will truly benefit. Use plain-text when possible: It’s lower in data and often more accessible. Reduce frequency: Send fewer, higher-quality emails with genuine value. Intentional emailing reduces not only emissions but also improves deliverability and engagement. Sustainable SEO and Content Strategy Why it matters: Search engines crawl, index, and serve up billions of web pages daily. Thoughtless content and bloated sites add to the load. How to reduce your impact: Create evergreen content: Focus on high-quality pages that stay relevant longer. Streamline your site structure: Fewer clicks to find content = less energy use. Use minimal plugins and scripts: Especially ones that load on every page. Green your CMS: Some content management systems are more resource-efficient than others. Sustainable SEO isn’t just eco-friendly—it’s good strategy. Fewer, better pieces often perform better than content mills. Rethink Marketing Automation Why it matters: Automated emails, ads, and data syncing can create a lot of digital clutter. That clutter eats up storage and energy. How to reduce your impact: Audit regularly: Retire old workflows and outdated automations. Optimize syncing: Reduce how often and how much data is transferred. Segment with purpose: Better targeting means fewer wasted sends. Use expiration dates: Don’t let outdated content or assets live forever. Efficient automation can reduce emissions and improve performance. Digital marketing isn’t going away—and it shouldn’t. It offers powerful tools for connection, education, and growth. But like all tools, it can be used more sustainably. At Taiga Company, we’re committed to helping organizations lower their environmental impact without sacrificing reach or results. Sustainable digital marketing is not only possible; it’s essential. Ready to make your marketing aligned with your company's corporate sustainability plan? Let’s start the conversation.

World Water Day 2025: How Beverage Brands Are Leading on Water—and Why Communicating It Matters

By Julie Starr • March 24, 2025
At Taiga Company, we work alongside brands who are not only doing the hard work of sustainability—but are learning how to talk about it in ways that connect with their stakeholders. This World Water Day , we’re reflecting on how leading beverage companies are advancing bold water stewardship goals and communicating those efforts clearly, thoughtfully, and strategically across digital platforms. Water is foundational to the beverage industry. From ingredient sourcing to packaging to community health, it’s a resource that demands attention—not just in terms of conservation, but in terms of how that commitment is shared with consumers, investors, regulators, and partners. Below, we’re highlighting three beverage companies whose recent water stewardship actions—and storytelling—stood out. PepsiCo: From Field to Community, Global Water Replenishment in Action PepsiCo launched 16 new water replenishment projects across nine countries in 2024 alone, restoring more than 1.7 billion liters of water to local ecosystems. These projects are practical and people-centered—ranging from irrigation efficiency in Texas to sustainable farming practices in the Dominican Republic. What stood out: clear project data, human-focused storytelling, and alignment with global frameworks. PepsiCo’s water webpage provides easy access to targets, progress updates, and case studies, helping stakeholders understand both the “why” and the “how.” Suntory Global Spirits: Water at the Heart of the Brand Suntory’s brands—from Maker’s Mark in Kentucky to Yamazaki in Japan—share a common origin: water. The company’s commitment to being net water positive by 2050 isn’t just a corporate goal—it’s integrated into brand storytelling, on-site conservation efforts, and supplier engagement. Their message is rooted in authenticity: water isn’t just an operational input, it’s an essential ingredient in their identity. Learn more on Suntory’s efforts via their LinkedIn post . Asahi Group Holdings: Building Local Water Resilience Together In the Netherlands, Asahi’s Koninklijke Grolsch partnered with stakeholders in the Twente region to develop a local water platform focused on reducing consumption and innovating wastewater reuse. This goes beyond operational efficiency—it’s about building water resilience within a shared ecosystem. Their community-first framing and long-term investment approach were key themes in this post . Why This Matters At Taiga Company, we believe that sustainability actions only go as far as their ability to be understood, felt, and trusted. Communicating water stewardship isn’t just about reporting metrics or sharing photos of wetlands (although both can help). It’s about giving stakeholders the context they need to see a company’s values in motion—clear commitments, thoughtful execution, and measurable impact.  If your team is evolving its water strategy—or simply looking for better ways to communicate what you're already doing—we’d love to be part of that conversation.
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