‘Leased’ Offices Create 158% More Emissions Per Occupier Than Flex Space

Flexible workspace shows a significant advantage for office users tracking their sustainable footprint compared to conventional leased office space.

A comparison of carbon usage by size of workspace shows that flex can be twice as carbon intensive as conventional leased offices. But, by taking actual occupancy of space into account, the data shows that leased office space is almost three times more carbon intensive based on current occupancy levels.

The research found that flexible workspace has average emissions of 11 units of CO2e per m2 compared to 49 units of CO2e per m2 in traditional leased offices. When looking at the average emissions per occupant, flexible space averages at 863 units. This compares to traditional offices with 2,779 units caused per unused desk and space that no longer works efficiently in a hybrid working environment.

The outcomes provide an initial but powerful insight into using carbon intensity based on occupancy of workspace as a metric. Currently, the amount of carbon used in occupying workspace is assessed by office size. But this metric does not allow for variable use of space over time, and does not reflect real world use of these spaces in a post COVID world.

According to the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers, each unused desk in an office equates to the creation of approximately one ton of unnecessary C02 every year. Focusing on occupancy will allow companies to correct huge inefficiencies and reduce overall emissions by tailoring their office space more accurately to their actual needs.

“There are clear improvements to be made for our clients and this metric unlocks potentially a huge impact for the sector to reduce its footprint over time. We are at a junction for Net Zero within workplace and the flex sector will play an ever-increasing role in the solution.”

Using intensity metrics based on occupancy reflects real-world usage and subsequent emissions. The Incendium data set allows for a comparison between operating models and demonstrates that under real-world conditions, the flex working model with increased desk utilization is more efficient and has lower emissions.