This category includes emissions from the transportation of employees between their homes and worksites. This covers private and public modes of transport e.g. car and rail travel. Companies should include emissions from teleworking (i.e., employees working remotely) in this category.
How this Category aligns to carbon accounting standards
The GHG Protocol Corporate Standard is an internationally recognized go-to standard for estimating and reporting corporate GHG emissions. GHG emissions are categorised into three 'Scopes'.
Scope 3 emissions are all indirect emissions – not included in scope 2 – that occur in the value chain of the reporting company. In other words, the emissions that are linked to the company’s operations. Activities covered by scope 3 emissions are diverse, but sit in two high level categories:
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Upstream emissions are indirect emissions related to purchased or acquired goods and services (all the emissions occurring to the point of receipt by the company: material sourcing and pre-processing)
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Downstream emissions are indirect emissions related to sold goods and services (all the emissions occurring after being sold by the reporting company: distribution, storage, use, end-of-life)
The Cozero category, Employee commuting, is an upstream source of scope 3 emissions, as defined by the GHG Protocol. All emission calculation methodologies follow the requirements for this scope of emission accounting.
Calculation methods
Here are the different calculation methods available on the Log to calculate scope 3 emissions from Employee commuting. These methods are listed in order of how specific the calculation is. Users should choose the method that is the most appropriate to the data available to them, to their business goals and the significance of the emissions of the category.
Fuel Consumption Method
Emissions are estimated by collecting data on the quantity of fuel used by employees to commute from their home to the office during the reporting period and multiplying by the relevant emission factor.
• Activity data: volume of fuel or electricity (in case of electric means of transport) used by employees in kWh. The Log provides conversion of other units.
• Emission factor: the Log is providing a default fuel emission factor (kgCO2e/kWh) but users can also enter supplier-specific emission factors.
• Step 1: Select the category Employee commuting
• Step 2: Select the subcategory - means of transport - you want to report on (e.g. Taxi, bus, etc)
• Step 3: Select additional levels of details
• Step 4: Enter the quantity of fuel or electricity for the means of transport
• Step 5: (If available, amend the emission factor with your own supplier-specific emission factor)
Cozero will automatically calculate the emissions for the quantity of fuel entered.
Distance Method
Emissions are estimated by collecting data on the total distance travelled by employees to commute from their home to the office during the reporting period and multiplying by the relevant emission factor.
- Activity data:
-> Total distance travelled in km for all your employees per means of transport
-> Distance per day per employees per means of transport and number of working days
-> Number of journey per means of transport
Note that commuting always includes back and forth travel. Cozero also provides conversion if your data are not in km.
- Emission factor: Cozero provides a default distance emission factor (kgCO2e/vehicle-km or kgCO2e/passenger-km) but users can also enter supplier-specific emission factors.
• Step 1: Select the category Employee commuting
• Step 2: Select the sub-category - means of transport - you want to report on (e.g. Taxi, bus, etc)
• Step 3: Select additional levels of details
• Step 4: Enter the activity data you have available for the means of transport
• Step 5: (If available, amend the emission factor with your own supplier-specific emission factor)
Cozero will automatically calculate the emissions for the distance entered.
Direct emission input
Users can enter the amount of emissions in CO2e directly in the log. They need to make sure of the accuracy of data used in this estimation.
Special case - Home office emissions
There have been significant changes in the way we do business in the last few years and businesses need to adapt to ensure that the infrastructure is in place to support a shift to remote workforce. Therefore, when your employees are working remotely, there are still emissions that you need to report on (e.g. electricity and heat consumption).
General approach
The emissions that would have not occurred in an office-working scenario are accounted as home office emissions - the additional emissions resulting from working at home, e.g. emissions from a fridge won’t be accounted for.
Home office emissions include electricity consumption from office equipment and lighting as well as heat consumption. Because it might be challenging for companies to collect these data, we are providing assumptions for these values.
• Activity data:
-> Total number of days working at home and location of employees
-> Number of hours worked at home and location of employees
-> Direct emission input
• Emissions factor: the Log will provide a default emissions factor for electricity and heat consumption.
How to report emissions in Cozero?
• Step 1: Select the category Employee commuting
• Step 2: Select the subcategory Home office
• Step 3: Enter the available data that you have
Cozero will automatically calculate the emissions for home office emissions.
Where can I find thedata?
Activity Data: Companies could collect data on Employee commuting habits through a survey. Type of data collect include:
• Distance travelled by employees per day, or home and office location,
• Number of days per week that employees use transport types (e.g. subway, car, bus, train, bicycle, etc.)
• Number of commuting days per week and number of weeks worked per year
• For car-pooling scheme, the proportion of employees using the scheme and the average occupancy per vehicle
Companies can also use a representative sample of their employees and then extrapolate the result of the survey to the whole company.
Note that data quality is an iterative process and should be built over time. Therefore there is no need to have the perfect data right away. For more information on data collection see the articles on data sourcing.
FAQ
For additional information on the calculation of scope 3 emissions, users can refer to the GHG Protocol Guidance. Please get in touch with our team if there is a frequent need to make use of this Log emission category and you require additional support in the calculation of emissions.