A recent blog by Matthew Fitzgerald (Savills) has highlighted a commonly overlooked source of carbon from commercial real estate. That is the carbon produced by employees commuting. Fitzgerald states that for many businesses more then 70% of their carbon footprint comes from emissions not created by the company, but that they are indirectly responsible for. These emissions are often forgotten in reporting.

Embodied carbon is now a hot topic, but if businesses want their real estate to become truly carbon neutral (or negative) they will need to consider the wider sources of carbon resulting from the use of their space. As noted in the Savills blog, commute distances could begin to take greater significance when businesses consider the location of their real estate. This could also impact on the size and shape of their real estate as (especially when looked at in conjunction with the effects of the pandemic) more employees may be encouraged to work from home, at least part time, to save on emissions.