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Dr Nick Watts said the health service slashed its carbon emissions by 276 kilotonnes last year 'principally' because patients made fewer car journeys.
Thousands of operations were cancelled and millions of people delayed coming forward due to fears about Covid. Millions of GP appointments were moved online or done by telephone.
In comments that risk fuelling a row over face-to-face appointments, Dr Watts said remote care was 'an intervention that should save carbon' going forward.
Britain's top child doctor also said a wider move to online consultations could benefit poor families who can't afford to travel during the cost of living crisis.
The comments were made at an annual NHS conference in Liverpool last week, during a talk chaired by Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee.
But Dr Watts, NHS England's chief sustainability manager, admitted hospitals had to do a 'better job' at ensuring everyone who wants an in-person consultation can get one.
Official figures show just 63 per cent of consultations were carried out in-person in England in April. At the current rate, it would take until September 2023 to reach the more than 80 per cent of appointments being made in person seen before the pandemic
Salford had the lowest proportion of patients seen in-person with less than half (46 per cent) of appointments made face-to-face. It was followed by Bury (51 per cent), Somerset (53 per cent) and Frimley (53 per cent). Some 79 per cent of appointments in Kirklees were done in person
Record waits in A&E have been partly blamed on desperate patients turning up at casualty units because they can't get an appointment with their family doctor.
Since coming into the job a year ago, Mr Javid has gone to war with GPs over the issue, threatening to 'name and shame' those who do too many consults on Zoom.
Campaigners have argued remote consultations increase the risk of doctors missing signs of serious illnesses. They also say this is particularly true for some vulnerable patients, like those with dementia, who may struggle to communicate remotely.
The row about face-to-face appointments was brought up during a panel on the NHS's goal to be carbon neutral by 2045.
Speaking at NHS ConfedExpo, Ms Toynbee said: 'The remote consultations have saved enormous amount of emissions.
Comment: And how many lives have they cost?
'Yet the Health Secretary seems to be saying, "I want everybody to be back visiting their GP in person".
'Surely we should be promoting the idea of the fantastic gains there have been for people not having to travel pointlessly.'
Comment: Pointless according to Dr. Watts.
Dr Watts replied: 'So what do we know about remote care? We know that last year alone the NHS saved, from the provision of remote care, primary and secondary, 276kilotonnes of carbon out of the atmosphere.
'Principally, you're right, principally it was from avoided transport emissions, so yes broadly we think that is an intervention that should save carbon.'
Comment: Stay home to save the environment?
It is estimated that 13million fewer people went to hospital or their GP for conditions other than Covid during the pandemic. They are now flooding back to the NHS.
Comment: Because they were bombarded with daily propaganda that made many of them too scared to go to hospitals.
Campaign groups, MPs and senior medics say many are turning to emergency and walk-in services because they can't see their GP, especially in-person.
Some have partly-blamed poor access to GPs for the crisis in emergency departments, warning that desperate patients are showing up at A&E because they can't see a family doctor. In May, 19,053 people were forced to wait 12 hours or more to be treated in A&E, three times longer than the NHS target
Ambulances took an average of 39 minutes and 58 seconds to respond to category two calls, such as burns, epilepsy and strokes. This is 11 minutes and 24 seconds quicker than one month earlier but more than double the 18-minute target
At the current rate, it would take until September 2023 to return to levels before Covid hit.
Dr Watts added: 'We also know that we need to do a better job of ensuring that we're providing access to every patient that requires that [face-to-face appointments].
'We know that some patients do want that, so it's probably about a question of choice.
'If you provide our patients with choice about how they can receive care very quickly I think you'll find that people start to take it up in ways that suit them.
Comment: If the alternative is a 12-hour A&E wait obviously many will prefer to have the telehealth appointment, it doesn't mean it's the best option for them though.
'Then you're improving care, improving access, and tackling those 276 kilotonnes of carbon.'
The head of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health suggested online appointments could benefit many poor families who can't afford to travel.
Dr Camilla Kingdon said a wider move to online could be crucial as the cost of living crisis bites.
'The same groups of society that are most at risk from climate change and I'm talking about children are same groups suffering currently from the cost of living crisis,' she told the conference.
'For instance, when we talk about remote consultation, we know it costs on average £31 for a family to bring their child to an outpatient facility.
She added: 'So online consultations is one area we can think about but it is not every child's solution.'
Dr Kingdon said there was no 'one-size fits all'.
'But I think we can maximize the opportunity we've got, the anxiety around fuel poverty and food poverty, to really weave in the sustainability agenda at the same time,' she added.
An NHS England spokesperson told MailOnline: 'Allowing those who want it to get routine NHS care or advice without leaving home, or taking time off work, to travel to a hospital or a surgery is clearly a better option for them, and for our environment.
'But face to face appointments will always be there for those who prefer them, or whose symptoms or condition means they are the right approach clinically.'
The NHS became the first health service in the world to pledge to be net zero last November.
Comment: And what happens when the wind turbines don't produce enough energy to power the life support machines?
As well as promoting remote consultations, this will mean using greener vehicles and making hospitals more energy-efficient.
Healthcare services are thought to contribute to about 5 per cent of the UK's carbon footprint. Operating theatres make up a quarter of all hospital emissions.
It comes after MailOnline revealed patients are being prescribed smartphones so that more patients can be treated 'virtually'.
NHS England has set the target of creating an additional 25,000 'beds' by 2024 by expanding the use of 'virtual wards' to treat more people at home.
The wards are designed for patients who need care but do not necessarily need to be in hospital.
They involve monitoring patients remotely using mobile apps and gadgets that can check oxygen and blood pressure.
NHS chiefs said patients on some pilot schemes were already being loaned mobile phones and given lessons to help them become tech-savvy.
For people who do not have access to Wi-Fi, trusts are providing them with devices that have access to 4G.
Dr Sarah Sibley, who runs virtual wards in Merseyside, claimed one 'barrier' was that many vulnerable people — particularly the elderly — do not have access to the right technology.
She added: 'And we work in areas with lots of social deprivation, people don't have access to technological devices or data to be able to upload information.'
Tara Donnelly, director of digital care models at NHS England, said other trusts have struck deals with companies like Vodafone to lend patients phones and tablets.
Comment: For an excellent summary of the zero-carbon lie, check out The Great Zero Carbon Criminal Conspiracy, below is an appropriate excerpt: