Research & Sources

Eurostat data shows that roughly 79% of the EU's ~200 million-strong workforce commutes to work, averaging around 50 minutes round-trip across roughly 220 working days per year. Extrapolated across the whole EU workforce, this amounts to an estimated 29 billion hours—the equivalent of 3.3 million human lifetimes—spent in transit every single year.

Source: Eurostat labour force and commuting statistics

Academic research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS, 2023) found that employees who telecommute full-time cut their associated greenhouse gas emissions by up to 54%, primarily by eliminating commuting emissions. A more recent 2026 study by ENEA (Italy's National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development) and the Bank of Italy found that a typical remote working day generates just 1.1 kg of CO2e, compared to 4.1 kg CO2e for a day commuting to an office—a reduction of roughly 75%. Road transport already accounts for approximately 25% of the EU's total greenhouse gas emissions, much of it driven by daily commuting congestion.

Source: PNAS (2023); ENEA & Banca d'Italia (2026); European Environment Agency

National labour institutes separate 'in itinere' (commuting) accidents from workplace accidents. In Italy, the national Workers' Compensation Authority (INAIL) identifies commuting accidents as a leading cause of work-related fatalities—particularly for women. INAIL reported a 3% increase in commuting accidents in 2025, reaching approximately 100,000 cases; within total fatal workplace accidents, deaths at the physical workplace are falling while commuting deaths are rising, reaching 293 fatalities in Italy alone. Proportionally extrapolated to the entire EU commuting workforce, this suggests approximately 830,000 non-fatal commuting accidents and 2,441 fatal commuting accidents every year across the Union, with independent estimates suggesting nearly 20,000 commuting-related deaths across Europe annually.

Source: INAIL (Istituto Nazionale Assicurazione Infortuni sul Lavoro), Italy; national labour institute statistics across EU Member States

Eurofound's 2024 study, 'Regional employment change and the geography of telework in Europe,' shows that remote work is reshaping where Europeans choose to live and work—reducing the pull of hyper-concentrated capitals and enabling employment growth in smaller towns and regions that would otherwise face depopulation.

Source: Eurofound (European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions), 2024

An IMF study on the link between remote work and productivity found measurable gains for digitally executable roles, driven by reduced commuting fatigue, fewer office distractions, and better talent-role matching across regions. Additional papers are being compiled in our ongoing evidence file as more sector-specific studies become available.

Source: IMF Study on Remote Work Productivity

Elsbach & Cable's 2012 study, 'How Passive Face Time Affects Perceptions of Employees: Evidence of Spontaneous Trait Inference,' documented that managers unconsciously rate employees who are simply seen in the office as more dedicated and dependable—regardless of actual output. This 'face-time bias' rewards visibility over performance, and disproportionately penalises remote and flexible workers, especially caregivers and people with disabilities.

Source: Elsbach, K. D., & Cable, D. M. (2012)

This initiative's demand rests on established EU competences and precedent:

• •Articles 151 and 153 TFEU — EU competence on working conditions, social exclusion, health and safety at work, and equality between men and women in the labour market. The same legal basis was used to pass the Work-Life Balance Directive (2019/1158).
• •Articles 191 and 192 TFEU — shared EU/Member State competence on environmental policy (Article 4(e) TFEU).
• •Article 114 TFEU — harmonisation measures for the functioning of the internal market.
• •Articles 4(c) and 4(k) TFEU — shared competence on economic, social and territorial cohesion, and common safety concerns in public health matters.
• •The transnational, digital nature of remote work justifies regulation at the supranational (EU) level, consistent with practices already emerging across the wider Western world.