Business Travel & Employee Commuting Assessment:
A Tool for Business Carbon Footprint Reduction
The Business Travel Report provides organizations the baseline information required to make the case for business carbon footprint reduction through sustainable transportation options. The report provides a quantitative analysis of employee commuting and business related travel. This allows the client to set measurable goals to reduce their travel-related business carbon footprint and/or offset their carbon emissions.
Included in the analysis of business travel is a summary of employee commuting patterns by personal vehicle or public transit, and resulting fuel consumption and related emissions. Employee travel by airplane is also considered if applicable. The report summarizes the total greenhouse gas emissions which provides a benchmark for tracking progress over time in your efforts towards business carbon footprint reduction. Where applicable, the report will also obtain cost quotes for carbon offsets should the business be interested in investing in offset technology.
This report can be customized to the particular needs of any business in order to provide the most specific and relevant information possible. This report provides information vital to any organization considering a business carbon footprint assessment. This report would conform to a Scope 3 analysis according to the standards set by the World Resource Institute for carbon footprint reduction assessments.
Sample Page from a Green Workplace Business Travel & Employee Commuting Assessment
NOTE: This report has been designed to provide a general idea of the detailed information that our assessments provide. Some sections have been omitted.
1. Introduction
Green Workplace: Who We Are and What We Do
Green Workplace is a service of Sustainable Community Enterprises. We are a growing team of young environmental professionals, committed to implementing sustainable innovation in the ways we live and work. We strive to build long-term partnerships with our clients so that progress can be nurtured through the full range of our services. Our aim is to provide our clients with the information and leadership they need to quantify their ecological impacts, set reduction targets, and increase sustainability throughout their operations.
Objective
This assessment makes use of all available air and fuel-related travel procurement data for Client’s Head Office for the 2008 year. Green Workplace has also made use of employee commuting data, which we have translated into fuel and/or greenhouse gas consumption (both for personal vehicles and those staff who commute to Head Office via transit). We have quantified all of this information in order to provide Client with a summary of greenhouse gas emissions resulting from employee travel and commuting. This business carbon footprint can serve as a useful baseline for setting reduction targets and/or for the purchasing of high quality carbon offsets towards the larger goal of making Client carbon neutral or a non-net contributor to climate warming gas production and emission.
Scope and WRI Standardized Carbon Accounting
Please Note: this assessment is NOT a comprehensive Greenhouse Gas audit. The World Resources Institute (WRI) has created a 3-scope methodology that is widely considered the best and most commonly used approach to organizational greenhouse gas accounting in the world.
These scopes include: Scope 1 (emissions from facilities, equipment, and vehicles owned and/or controlled by the organization), Scope 2 (purchased electricity), and Scope 3 (non-owned and/or controlled emissions sources such as: employee business travel, paper and solid waste). Scopes 1 and 2 are considered ‘mandatory’ reporting (in non-voluntary markets), while Scope 3 is considered voluntary.
The 3 main areas of this assessment fall under Scope 3, or voluntary GHG accounting.
2. Quantification
2.1 Accounting for the Environmental Impacts of Fossil Fuels
With respect to global warming, Carbon Dioxide (CO2 ) is the most prevalent greenhouse gas. It is also the benchmark gas to which all other GHG’s, such as methane and nitrous oxide, are commonly converted. Equivalent carbon dioxide (or CO2e) is an instantaneous measure for describing how much global warming a given type and amount of greenhouse gas may cause, using the functionally equivalent amount or concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) as the reference. Recent research indicates that recovery from a large input of atmospheric CO2 from burning fossil fuels will result in an effective lifetime of tens of thousands of years.
Why are Greenhouse Gases harmful?
Climate change, caused by human generated greenhouse gases has the capacity to devastate entire ecosystems, destroy food supplies, spread disease and much worse. However, as a human caused problem, the effects of climate change can also be averted through human innovation. The average Canadian emits about 6 tonnes of greenhouse gases annually.
3. Summary of Employee Air Travel (Distances and Emissions)
3.1 Background
Green Workplace was provided with flight lists and receipts for Client’s 2008 air travel. We divided each flight into short, medium, and long haul (in accordance with air travel emissions accounting protocol).
4. Summary of Emissions from Corporate Vehicle Fuel Consumption
Total Emissions: Approximately 178 Tonnes
4.1 Background
Green Workplace was provided with 2008 procurement data showing monthly and annual fuel purchases. We converted these dollar figures into litres based upon monthly average gas prices in Vancouver in 2008. Finally, we applied Natural Resources Canada’s Office of Energy Efficiency coefficient of 2.4 kg of CO2e per litre of unleaded gasoline to determine total Greenhouse Gas emissions from purchased fuel.
5. Summary of Emissions from Employee Commuting
5.1 Commuting Emissions from Staff who Travel by Personal Vehicle
Background
Green Workplace received a list of the postal codes and corresponding personal vehicles (incl. year & make) for all Client staff who commute by personal vehicle. We then determined the roundtrip commuting distance, commuting days per worker per year (based on specific work cycle, less vacation and sick days), and their vehicle’s fuel efficiency. NOTE: the above table presents averages and totals but each sum has been determined by adding up each specific driver and their corresponding: vehicle efficiency, roundtrip commute distance and total commuting days. Staff have retained full anonymity as names, addresses, and license plates were not provided.
5.2 Commuting Emissions from Staff who Travel by Public Transit
6. Cumulative Annual Emissions for all Client Air travel, Purchased Fuel, and Employee Commuting (baseline: 2008)
7. Curbing Client’s Air Travel, Purchased Fuel, and Employee Commuting Greenhouse Gas Emissions
There are two primary approaches to addressing Greenhouse Gas emissions on the corporate level: reduction and offsetting. Below is further information on both of these opportunities.
NOTE: Sections 7.1 and 7.2 of this report have been omitted.
7.1 Reduction
7.2 Offsetting
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