With REMM, the Swedish public sector is making great strides by optimising meetings

In recent years, Sweden has deployed its central government departments throughout the country. The headquarters of many government agencies are now located in cities other than the capital, sometimes hundreds of kilometres away.

While the goal was to readjust economic activity in the regions, doing so could have increased both costs and levels of greenhouse gas emissions from business travel.

To limit the effects and achieve profound organisational change, the country launched an ambitious nationwide plan for holding virtual meetings – the REMM project¹

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Developed by the Ministry of Transport (Trafikverket), a ten-step methodology was tested in twenty departments over a four-year period before being gradually rolled out. Beyond the financial aspect, the initial results were very promising:

• Average per-employee CO2 emissions fell by 10%, while increasing by 9% over the same period in other departments

• One out of every three trips was cancelled in favour of participation in an online meeting. The results showed that in one-third of cases, the time saved helped improve work/life balance by eliminating overtime hours.

Today, all 188 government departments use REMM (there must be a compelling reason to hold a face-to-face meeting). With an uptake rate of 60%, emissions have been cut by 25%.

What sets REMM apart is the tools provided to users:

• An analysis grid to choose the tool best suited to each need and optimise the meeting

• Help getting started, which frees users from worrying about technical issues

• Streamlined comparison thanks to an online simulator that makes everyone aware of the time, emissions and cost factors involved

On the strength of its success, the project has convinced local authorities (counties, municipalities and cities) who have just launched their own "REDI" initiative.

On a more global scale, REMM has also served as inspiration to the United Nations .

¹ "Resfria Möten i Myndigheter": meetings without travel in public administrations.