Carbon Footprint – Can you account for your organisation’s business travel carbon footprint?

Over the last few years, the UK and EU governments have introduced a number of laws and regulations relating to reducing carbon emissions from industry as part of the attempt to grow a low-carbon economy.

Do you know the size of your carbon footprint?

Specifically in the UK, the Climate Change Act 2008 sets out the carbon emission reduction targets for organisations operating here. These targets require that by 2020 carbon emissions are cut by 34 per cent of the 1990 figures, and that by 2050, these emissions are cut by 80 per cent.

In organisations where business travel is a major part of a company’s everyday business processes, reducing the carbon footprint generated by travel is important to achieve government targets.

Also, many companies now have their own internal travel reduction programmes, and therefore having complete visibility into business travel is not just helpful, it is essential.

By using Concur you gain:

The ability to control the travel method used

With an integrated travel booking system, Concur gives you complete control over the type of journeys, and the transport method that can be used by employees. This can ensure that employees are always using the most carbon-emission efficient mode of transport available for the journey.

The ability to report accurately on carbon footprint

Concur gives you the ability to calculate the carbon footprint for a particular journey, not just after the journey has been taken, but also at the point of booking. Armed with this information, employees are able to make more informed choices about the business travel being made.

Since Concur uniquely captures both intended and actual travel data, you can analyse your business travel data to see all carbon emissions, and even delve into variances between the booked itinerary and the actual travel.

Concur makes it easy to report on your carbon footprint for inclusion of this data in your Corporate Social Responsibility report.

As no standard carbon emissions calculator currently exists, Concur offers you a choice of two models – DEFRA and CE – while also supporting additional models used by specific Travel Management Companies. This ensures consistency between values shown during booking and values reported after travel is complete.

The ability to report accurately on mileage

Using Google™ Maps, Concur is able to report accurately on the miles accrued by business travellers. In addition, multiple rates can be recorded based on engine size, or whether the vehicle is company or personal. Concur also enables you to calculate your employees’ business mileage for P11d reporting.

The ability to discourage business travel all together

Concur also has the option to encourage employees to not travel but use tele/video conferencing.