Collaboration software has played a vital role in keeping businesses connected over the last 18 months, but a by-product of this has been a reduction in emissions as employees worked from home more and travelled less.
Research suggests that global emissions were down over six percent last year, halting a year-on-year rise that had gone on for decades. In the US, emissions plummeted more than double this figure at 13 percent.
Tu-Han Phan leads RingCentral’s social impact and diversity strategy which includes, among other things, the impact of technology on the environment.
She told UC Today that many organisations were uncomfortable at being forced into remote working at the start of the pandemic, but many have since realised the benefits it can have both on their business and the environment.
“We call ourselves the dreamers in this equation because we saw this not just as a business opportunity but actually as a really good thing,” Tu-Han said. “There’s so much you can do when you work remotely if you embrace it.
“Businesses that weren’t already thinking about remote working and the environment felt like they had their backs against the wall. They felt cornered when they were forced to migrate to a remote working space.
“But you can be more inclusive, you can do things in a more impromptu way and there are no geographic barriers.
“When it comes to the environment specifically, there’s a reduction in travel – whether that’s to the office or flying across the globe – and there’s the reduction in the resources being used in an office as well.
“Early in the pandemic, one of our colleagues calculated the time, money and CO2 emissions they were saving by not having to commute to work. This message echoes the sentiment of the vast majority of our workforce, who feel a strong personal investment in environmental responsibility”
Tu-Han describes this as the early phase of a journey towards being more environmentally conscious. In this phase, businesses are being more environmentally friendly, even if doing so wasn’t the primary aim of the change in strategy.
But once businesses realise that they can work effectively in a remote setup, the environmental benefits of doing so can become a bigger factor in the decisions they take moving forward.
Tu-Han characterises this journey in three phases:
- Phase one: This is when a business has taken steps to help the environment, even if the environment wasn’t the driving force behind the steps – for example, recycling, travelling less and a reduction in printing
- Phase two: This phase is going a step further than the day-to-day operating of your own business and looking at areas such as supply chain, the companies you partner with and the impact on the environment of the products and services you deliver
- Phase three: This phase is going above and beyond looking at your own business, and trying to drive change outside of your organisation
“I’m not saying this is right or wrong, but businesses are usually thinking about their bottom line first,” Tu-Han said.
“So from a business perspective, when you’re thinking about a reduction in travel you’re thinking about the efficacy of your meetings and losing facetime.
“At RingCentral, our perspective is that once you’re able to pass those barriers you’ll see that meetings can be run just as effectively, you can start looking at phase two.”
The reduction of travel is just one example of where collaboration tools can be used to reduce environmental harm.
The use of virtual documents and slides, rather than printouts, can reduce the amount of waste paper generated, for example, while also improving the productivity of teams.
