Can telework help us to tip into low-carbon passenger transportation?

The pressure to mitigate climate change and to inhibit irreversible changes on the Earth’s system is large. In particular, the passenger transportation sector has to undergo a radical change to drastically reduce emissions. This study analyzes telework as an enabling condition to move passenger transportation onto a low-carbon trajectory. We used a mixed-methods approach with a qualitative expert focus group (n = 8) as a preparatory step and a consecutive national online survey focusing on the Austrian working population (n = 688), and linked our empirical results with findings from the international literature in a causal loop diagram. Our results show that the willingness to conduct telework and the level of acceptance for several incentives that support low-carbon mobility is high (personal agency). However, to translate this personal willingness into actual emission reductions, attractive framework conditions (societal agency) must be created. Therefore, telework should not be seen as an isolated area for action, as it most effectively unfolds its potential as an enabling condition when incorporated into a policy package with incentives for low-carbon mobility. •Telework as an enabling condition to move passenger transportation onto a low-carbon trajectory is investigated.•A mixed-methods approach using a qualitative focus group and an online survey (n = 688) was applied.•People’s willingness to perform telework and their support for several low-carbon transport measures are high.•Telework needs to be incorporated into a policy package to most effectively disrupt the passenger transportation system.