How state employees are showing the climate benefits of remote work

Mainers drive more than 15 billion miles a year, and transportation is the state’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. But working remotely can reduce those numbers. And state employees are offering a test case of how much of an impact remote work can have. During the COVID pandemic, the average state employee in Maine commutes 44 miles round trip each day. By working remotely, state employees were burning a million fewer gallons of gas every year, and avoiding 8,000 tons of CO2 emissions. And they were driving 22 million fewer miles annually, a number that equals 46 round-trips to the moon. Now, the reduction in driving is only about half of what it was in 2020. Maine DOT projections are for driving miles to increase steadily in coming years. This conflicts directly with goals in the state climate plan of reducing driving miles 10% by 2025, and 20% by 2030.