Requirements and guidelines according to the GHG Protocol
Category 3.7 of the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol covers all indirect GHG emissions caused by employees' daily commute. This includes emissions from the use of private vehicles, public transport and emission-free transportation (e.g. walking, cycling), where relevant. These emissions are not included in Scope 1 or Scope 2 and are part of a company's downstream emissions.
Important requirements
Source identification: Companies should record all means of transportation used by employees for commuting.
Recording methods: Calculations can be based on commuting kilometers (e.g. kg CO2e/km) or on travel costs (spend-based).
Emission factors: Use of standardized emission factors from recognized databases such as DEFRA, GLEC Framework or national environmental authorities. NetCero supports both volume-based (km-based) and spend-based (€-based) calculation methods.
Reporting period: The recorded emissions should be synchronized with commuting patterns and work models (e.g. home office share).
Units: Emissions should be documented per means of transportation in kg CO2e/km or kg CO2e per commute.
Recording in NetCero
Follow these steps to record emissions from employee commuting in NetCero:
Create activity: record all relevant commuting methods (car, train, bus, bike) as separate activities in the system.
Assign responsibility: Designate a person responsible for data collection and maintenance.
Assign recording object: Assign each activity to the correct business unit to ensure clear allocation.
Select emission factors: Users standardized emission factors from the NetCero database or external sources.
Define your own emission factors: Add company-specific factors if more accurate data is available from employees or transportation providers.
Document commuting routes: Record commute kilometers or travel costs directly in the table within the activity - based on employee surveys or traffic analyses.
(optional) Excel upload: upload data directly into the created activity using the Excel template.
Automatic emission calculation: NetCero calculates the emissions per commute and integrates them into the overall balance.
Examples of emissions from commuting
Example 1: Commuting to work by car
One thousand employees commute an average of 20 km to work by car every day (outward and return journey). If the emission factor for a petrol car is 0.18 kg CO2e/km and the employees commute 220 working days per year, the emissions would be
4,400 km x 1,000 people x 0.18 kgCO2e/km = 792,000 kgCO2e (792 tCO2e)
Example 2: Bicycle as an emission-free alternative
An employee cycles 10 km to work every day. As emission-free transportation causes no CO2 emissions, the balance is: 0 kgCO2e
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