Work out your working from home emissions
= 1.50 tonnes CO2e in 2026 (Scope 3 (employee commuting and teleworking))
Each employee day × 0.8161 kg CO2e, the Ministry for the Environment's 2026 figure (Working from home - With heating).
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Working from home emission factors in the 2026 guide
| Factor (as the Ministry names it) | Unit | kg CO2e | CO2 | CH4 | N2O |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Working from home - With heatingWorking From Home › Working From Home | per employee day | 0.8161 | 0.7898 | 0.02497 | 0.001274 |
| Working from home - Without heatingWorking From Home › Working From Home | per employee day | 0.05562 | 0.05383 | 0.001702 | 0.00008682 |
CO2, CH4 and N2O are each gas's share of the total, in kg CO2e; a dash means the guide gives no figure for that gas. Every figure is from the 2026 guide; it is the only edition we hold, so there is no year-on-year column.
The Ministry's notes on these figures
- Working from home - With heating: Base load emissions with 6 hours of heating per day.
- Working from home - Without heating: Only base load emissions.
Worked example
Take 20 staff who each work from home two days a week for 46 weeks, 1,840 employee days a year. 1,840 employee days × 0.8161 kg CO2e = 1.50 tonnes CO2e, reported as Scope 3 (employee commuting and teleworking).
How to use it
Count the days staff worked from home in the year and multiply by the factor. Use the with-heating figure for days when staff heat their homes to work, and the without-heating figure for the rest. The heated figure assumes six hours of heating a day; the unheated one covers what the guide calls base load only.
The GHG Protocol lets you report working from home with employee commuting (Scope 3, category 7). It is optional, but if you report it, report it every year so the figures compare.
The guide also publishes a default figure that blends heated and unheated days. We have not reproduced it here; you will find it in the Ministry's guide.
Which rules apply in New Zealand
The Ministry's guide is voluntary guidance for organisations measuring their greenhouse gas emissions, and follows the GHG Protocol and ISO 14064-1. Climate reporting entities under New Zealand's climate-related disclosures regime report under the External Reporting Board's Aotearoa New Zealand Climate Standards, and can use these factors for their Scope 1, 2 and 3 figures. Businesses of any size answering a customer's or a bank's request for emissions data can use them in the same way. Cite the guide and its year next to every figure.
UK companies with sites or staff in New Zealand should use these factors for that activity and the UK government factors for UK activity. In Carbon Recycling, set a site's country to New Zealand and its electricity is reported with the Ministry's factor. See reporting overseas sites for how the rest fits together.
Where to find your own figure
Your HR, rostering or office booking system shows who worked where. If you have no records, a short staff survey of typical home days a week is a fair estimate; say so in your report.
Related emission factors
- Taxi (New Zealand): 0.159 kg CO2e per km
- Domestic flights (New Zealand): 0.1159 kg CO2e per passenger-km
- International flights (New Zealand): 0.09043 kg CO2e per passenger-km
- All New Zealand emission factors
- New Zealand grid electricity (Ember's estimate, every year since 2000)
- UK emission factors and other countries
Source: Ministry for the Environment. 2026. Measuring emissions: A guide for organisations: 2026 emission factors (version 2). Crown copyright, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Carbon Recycling is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Ministry; the sums on this page are ours.