The basic gist is, the best way to reduce carbon emissions from transport is to drive less. This is most easily accomplished by being poor/expensive fuel (slightly unpopular) or living somewhere central with short distances and good alternatives (like walking, biking or transit). People switching to remote work tend to move out of dense locations, increasing the distance they need to drive for non-work activities and to the time they do drive for work.
You'd think so, but the evidence is less than clear with some pre-corona studies suggesting WFH resulting in more emissions: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13762-014-0556-5
And some people involved in the transit space think that corona didn't change that: https://twitter.com/alon_levy/status/1538697382958968834
The basic gist is, the best way to reduce carbon emissions from transport is to drive less. This is most easily accomplished by being poor/expensive fuel (slightly unpopular) or living somewhere central with short distances and good alternatives (like walking, biking or transit). People switching to remote work tend to move out of dense locations, increasing the distance they need to drive for non-work activities and to the time they do drive for work.