Business travel emissions (Scope 3 Category 6)

In the complex landscape of corporate carbon accounting, business travel emissions often represent a significant yet manageable portion of an organisation's carbon footprint. 

Whether it's flights to client meetings, train journeys to conferences, or taxi rides between appointments, each journey contributes to your company's greenhouse gas inventory. Let’s dive into the ways you can understand and manage those emissions for your business.

What are business travel emissions (Scope 3 Category 6)?

Business travel emissions fall under Scope 3 Category 6 in the Greenhouse Gas Protocol framework. They encompass all emissions from the transportation of employees for business-related activities in vehicles not owned or operated by the reporting company. Learn more about it in the Corporate Value Chain Standard by the GHG Protocol.

Category 6 specifically includes emissions from:

• Air travel (typically the largest contributor)
• Rail travel
• Bus travel
• Automobile travel in rental cars or employee-owned vehicles
• Other transportation modes

It's important to note that hotel stays during business trips can optionally be included in this category, though not all companies choose to do so.

What's not included in Category 6?

To accurately account for business travel emissions, it's crucial to understand what's excluded:

• Transportation in company-owned vehicles (reported in Scope 1)
• Employee commuting (reported in Scope 3, Category 7)
• Leased vehicles operated by the company (reported in Scope 3, Category 8)
• Transportation of goods and services (reported in other Scope 3 categories)

This clear delineation helps prevent double-counting and ensures accurate emissions reporting across your GHG emissions scopes and categories.

Why business travel emissions matter

Business travel emissions are significant for several reasons:

• They often represent a substantial portion of a service company's carbon footprint
• They're highly visible to employees and stakeholders
• They present tangible opportunities for emissions reduction
• They're increasingly subject to regulatory reporting requirements
• They directly connect to business operations and costs

As companies face growing pressure to demonstrate environmental responsibility, business travel is frequently one of the first areas targeted for emissions reduction, offering both climate benefits and potential cost savings.

How can companies calculate business travel emissions?

Calculating business travel emissions involves collecting travel data, applying appropriate emission factors, and ensuring consistent methodology. While this sounds straightforward, the reality is often challenging due to data fragmentation and methodological complexities.

Data collection approaches

Companies typically gather business travel data through:

• Travel management systems: Extracting data directly from corporate travel booking platforms
• Expense systems: Analysing reimbursement claims for travel-related expenses
• Supplier reports: Obtaining emissions data directly from airlines, hotels, and car rental companies
• Employee surveys: Collecting information directly from travellers (though this method is less accurate)

The quality of your emissions calculations directly depends on your data collection thoroughness. Companies often struggle with incomplete or inconsistent data, especially when travel bookings occur outside approved channels.

Calculation methodologies

The GHG Protocol outlines three primary methods for calculating business travel emissions:

Most companies begin with the spend-based method as it's easiest to implement, then gradually transition to more accurate distance-based calculations as their data collection improves.

The challenges of manual calculation

While some companies attempt to track business travel emissions using spreadsheets, this approach presents significant challenges:

• Data consolidation: Gathering information from multiple sources and formats is time-consuming and error-prone
• Emission factor management: Keeping up with changing emission factors for different travel modes and regions is complex
• Calculation accuracy: Formula errors can easily creep into spreadsheet-based systems
• Time investment: Manual calculations require significant time that could be better spent on reduction strategies

According to a BCG study, 86% of companies still record and report their emissions manually using spreadsheets, while only 9% are able to measure their emissions comprehensively across all scopes, including value chain emissions.

Why carbon accounting software is essential

Due to these complexities, dedicated carbon accounting software has become essential for companies serious about accurately tracking their business travel emissions. As Johannes Weber, Director of Sustainability Solutions at Plan A, explains:

As a carbon accounting expert, I strongly advocate using sustainability software over internal solutions. Unlike cumbersome internal solutions reliant on spreadsheets, advanced software offers efficient data collection, accurate emissions calculations, streamlined data integration across departments, and enhanced stakeholder transparency. This allows for vast time and cost savings whilst strengthening brand resilience and mitigating risks related to compliance and sustainability commitments.

Modern carbon accounting platforms like Plan A provide significant advantages:

• Automated data collection: Direct integration with travel management and expense systems
• Updated emission factors: Regular updates to reflect the latest scientific consensus
• Accurate categorisation: Proper mapping to GHG Protocol scopes and categories
• Time efficiency: According to Nathan Bonnisseau, co-founder at Plan A, "If a team is able to divide by 80 the time to get a complete report, then they have that much more time available to strategise around this data."
• Audit readiness: Transparent calculation methodologies certified by third parties

Explore Plan A's software via the interactive demo below:

Most importantly, carbon accounting software transforms business travel tracking from a burdensome compliance exercise into a strategic tool for emissions reduction.

For what industries are business travel emissions particularly important?

While all organisations should monitor business travel emissions, certain industries face greater impacts and scrutiny in this area.

Professional services

For professional services firms (consulting, law, accounting, etc.), business travel typically represents one of the largest emission sources in their carbon footprint. These companies often operate on a client service model that has traditionally involved significant travel to client sites.

Key challenges for this sector include:

• High proportion of emissions from air travel
• Client expectations around in-person service delivery
• Competitive pressure to maintain client relationships
• Balancing virtual and in-person collaboration

Many leading professional services firms have made ambitious commitments to reduce travel emissions through hybrid work models and better travel policies.

Financial services

Financial institutions face similar challenges with high business travel emissions, particularly for roles like investment banking, private equity, and wealth management, where relationship-building often involves extensive travel.

For these companies, reducing business travel emissions directly connects to their broader climate strategies and growing sustainable finance portfolios. As financial institutions increasingly scrutinise the climate performance of their investments, their own travel practices face similar scrutiny.

Technology and telecommunications

While technology companies have pioneered virtual collaboration, many still generate significant travel emissions through:

• Sales and business development activities
• Technical implementation at client sites
• Conferences and industry events
• Internal team gatherings for remote workforces

Paradoxically, the telecommunications sector, which provides solutions enabling remote collaboration, reports significant positive GHG impacts from their products, indicating the importance of travel-related emissions in their operations.

Manufacturing and retail

For companies in manufacturing and retail, business travel may represent a smaller percentage of overall emissions compared to product-related impacts. However, these sectors often have global supply chains requiring travel for:

• Supplier audits and relationship management
• Quality control and production oversight
• Participation in industry trade shows
• International market development

These companies must balance the need for in-person supply chain management with their broader emissions reduction goals.

Challenges across all industries

Regardless of sector, companies face several common challenges when addressing business travel emissions:

• Data collection complexity: Gathering accurate travel information from multiple booking systems and expense reports
• Balancing business needs: Determining when in-person interaction is truly necessary
• Cultural expectations: Shifting long-established norms around business travel
• Verification difficulties: Ensuring accurate and complete travel data capture

Companies that successfully navigate these challenges can turn business travel management into a competitive advantage through cost savings and demonstrated environmental leadership.

How can companies reduce business travel emissions?

Reducing business travel emissions requires a strategic approach that balances business needs with environmental impact. The following strategies can help companies make meaningful progress in this area.

Implement a comprehensive travel policy

An effective travel policy forms the foundation of any business travel emissions reduction strategy. Key elements include:

• Clear guidelines on when travel is necessary versus when virtual alternatives should be used
• Preference for lower-carbon travel modes (e.g., train over plane for shorter distances)
• Internal carbon budgets for business travel by department or team
• Approval workflows that incorporate sustainability considerations
• Guidance on combining multiple meetings into single trips

When developing your travel policy, involve key stakeholders from across the organisation to ensure buy-in and address legitimate business needs.

Leverage technology for virtual collaboration

The pandemic demonstrated that many traditional in-person interactions can be effectively conducted virtually. Companies should:

• Invest in high-quality video conferencing and virtual collaboration tools
• Provide training on effective virtual meeting facilitation
• Create dedicated virtual spaces for different types of collaboration
• Implement hybrid approaches that reduce total travel while maintaining some in-person connection

This approach doesn't eliminate travel entirely but focuses it on situations where face-to-face interaction delivers genuine value.

Optimise necessary travel

When travel is essential, companies can minimise emissions through smart planning:

• Consolidate multiple meetings or purposes into single trips
• Select lower-carbon transportation modes where feasible
• Choose accommodation with strong sustainability credentials
• Optimise meeting locations to minimise total travel distances
• Encourage longer, less frequent trips rather than multiple short journeys

These optimisations not only reduce emissions but often improve traveller wellbeing through less frequent disruption.

Track and report progress

Effective emissions reduction requires robust tracking and reporting. Companies should:

• Set clear, measurable targets for business travel emissions reduction
• Track performance against targets at organisational and departmental levels
• Report progress transparently to stakeholders
• Celebrate success and recognise teams that demonstrate leadership

This approach creates accountability and builds momentum for continued improvement. For comprehensive guidance on setting and achieving targets, consider reviewing Plan A's Target setting and decarbonisation playbook, which provides detailed frameworks for establishing science-based reduction goals.

Engage employees in the solution

Employee engagement is critical to successful travel emissions reduction. Strategies include:

• Communicating the environmental impact of different travel choices
• Creating incentives for choosing lower-carbon options
• Recognising teams that successfully reduce travel emissions
• Gathering employee feedback on travel policies and alternatives

When employees understand both the "why" and "how" of travel reduction, they become active participants rather than reluctant compliers.

Implement a carbon accounting platform

To effectively manage business travel emissions, companies need robust systems for data collection, analysis, and planning. Plan A's carbon management platform delivers several key capabilities:

• Streamlined data collection: Automatically import travel data from expense systems and travel management platforms to ensure complete capture of all business trips
• Accurate emissions calculation: Apply appropriate emission factors based on travel mode, distance, and other variables through certified calculation methodologies
• Comprehensive reporting: Generate detailed breakdowns of travel emissions by department, project, or any custom dimension to identify hotspots and track progress
• Target setting and tracking: Set science-based targets for business travel reduction and monitor performance against these goals
• Action planning: Access a library of proven measures to reduce your carbon footprint from business travel and quantify potential savings

By implementing such a platform, sustainability teams can spend less time on data collection and more on strategic emissions reduction. To learn more about how Plan A can help streamline your business travel emissions management, book a demo with our experts.

Create a long-term transformation strategy

For lasting impact, companies should develop a comprehensive plan for transforming their approach to business travel. This might include:

• Gradually shifting to a "virtual-first" meeting culture with clear criteria for essential travel
• Redesigning work processes to reduce travel dependency
• Locating teams closer to key clients or partners to minimise travel needs
• Incorporating travel emissions into business case development for new projects or clients

For guidance on developing such an approach, Plan A's Corporate decarbonisation journey whitepaper breaks down the entire process into concrete steps.

We’ve seen that business travel emissions represent a significant but manageable portion of many companies' carbon footprints. By implementing comprehensive tracking systems, designing thoughtful travel policies, and leveraging technology for virtual collaboration, organisations can substantially reduce their environmental impact while often improving operational efficiency.

The key to success lies in balancing legitimate business needs with environmental responsibility, not eliminating travel entirely but ensuring each journey delivers sufficient value to justify its carbon impact. With proper measurement tools, clear policies, and employee engagement, companies can transform their approach to business travel and contribute meaningfully to their broader sustainability goals.