If we stick with the pandemic habit of working from home, it should mean cleaner air, less time wasted in traffic jams and lower carbon emissions.

This inviting thought is pretty much what Professor Mike Berners-Lee wrote last year in a new edition of How Bad Are Bananas?, his excellent 2010 guide to the carbon footprint of almost everything, from a leg of lamb to a volcano.

Berners-Lee, brother of world wide web inventor Tim, is a global authority on this stuff. And at first glance, his book seems to answer a question that is growing more pressing as employers start navigating the uncharted world of hybrid work: is working from home better for the planet? More to the point, could it help to lower fossil-fuelled energy systems driving up global temperatures?