MAINE PUBLIC • December 8, 2020
Maine government workers have reduced their car travel by 1 million vehicle miles a week since the start of the pandemic, thanks to the rapid, wholesale adoption of telework policies. The preliminary data are opening an unexpected window on the future of telecommuting and its potential to deliver substantial reductions in global warming pollution. state Rep. Seth Berry, who co-chairs the Legislature’s Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technology, said, “The state of Maine’s climate emissions, 54 percent of them come from transportation, and if a large employer like the state of Maine can shift to 85 percent telework, that’s massive.”