VoIP to cut carbon emissions?

If offices and especially call centres were to allow workers to use VoIP from home, thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions could be cut, according to a new report.

Some 460 million commuter journeys take place in the UK each year, says call centre organiser Exony, which creates 1.3 million tonnes of CO2.

If this were to be offsetby planting trees, it would require a forest the size of Kent, the company claims prompting its call for more office workers to use VoIP and work from home.

"It's staggering to think that an area of forest nearly the size of Kent would be required to offset the UK contact centre industry's commute," said Ian Ashby, chief executive of Exony.

"Homeshoring would significantly reduce the amount of traffic on our roads and enable a whole new segment of the population to use their skills beneficially."

Britain is lagging behind on the call centres introducing mobile working, especially compared to the US where estimates suggest there will be as many as 330,000 agents who work from home by 2010.