Methods and systems are provided for conducting an evaporative emissions test responsive to an indication of a vehicle remote engine start event. In one example, responsive to an indication of a remote start and further indication that the vehicle is not occupied, intake manifold vacuum is utilized to reduce pressure in the fuel system and evaporative emissions system to a threshold, wherein the fuel system and evaporative emissions system are sealed, and undesired evaporative emissions indicated responsive to a pressure bleed-up rate greater than a threshold. In this way, by applying intake manifold vacuum on the fuel system and evaporative emissions system while the vehicle is stationary and not occupied, engine hesitations resulting from desorption of fuel vapors from a fuel vapor canister are not experienced by the vehicle operator and/or passengers, and noise factors from driving conditions, passenger movement, etc., do not impact the evaporative emissions test.