LOWCARBON - Low Carbon Knowledge Work: Exploiting the Potential of eWork and eCollaboration to Contribute to Energy Efficiency

LOWCARBON is the acronym of an IEE Intelligent Energy Europe proposal addressed to the “Energy in transport” programme with partner involvement from different SEN@ER partner regions.
The project will spread know-how and good practice about how ICT-based forms of flexible work, namely telework (eWork) and virtual collaboration (eCollaboration, incl. virtual meetings), can be used to effectively decrease greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by knowledge work, namely by commuting and business travel.
The online tools to be developed and adopted from existing tools will include an online application for the self assessment of current eWork and eCollaboration implementations as to their ecological but also economic and social sustainability and provide further online learning material and guidance on how to improve work processes and work organisation.

The project will be made up of the following main components:

• Collation of international good practice and the state-of-the-art in knowledge about eWork and eCollaboration - in particular critical success factors and relative impact on GHG emissions.
• Pilot cases in organisations (private and public sector), in which the conditions for and practical implications of introducing strategies for low-carbon knowledge work are demonstrated, concrete targets related to increasing energy efficiency are set and tangible progress is achieved.
• Capacity-building activities at local level to establish low-carbon knowledge work as an effective component of local strategies for addressing climate change.
• Dissemination, awareness raising and exchange of good practice activities. These will deploy a set of methods and tools which are optimally tailored to the needs of the target audiences, i.e. companies and public sector employers; municipalities and other local/regional actors; and policy-makers who aim to explore the possible contribution of low-carbon knowledge work to strategies for tackling climate change.
• A stakeholder dialogue involving key representatives including social partners, the different levels of policy, NGOs and other relevant parties, in order to explore the feasibility of various possible schemes and measures for making progress in cutting GHG emissions related to knowledge work.