The carbon footprint for organisations’ ground transportation activity can be higher than their air travel and hotel stays, a new case study has found.

The case study formed part of The Miles Consultancy’s research and development process for its Mobility iQ app

The Miles Consultancy (TMC) analysed emissions for a Fortune 500 global corporation with around 100,000 employees.

The research covered all aspects of ground transportation – including car rental, taxi, ride hailing, black car and public transport (bus and rail) as well as employee commuting and business mileage reimbursement, under Scope 3 emissions.

The startling findings showed that ground transportation accounted for over a third of the organisation’s total emissions for 2021/22. More surprisingly, it accounted for more than air travel and hotel stays, despite these normally being seen as the highest emitters.

While TMC said that reduced overseas travel, flying and hotel stays in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic would have played a role in the results, it also noted the fall in business travel and the move to hybrid working over the same time period and said the results were still relevant.

The case study formed part of The Miles Consultancy’s research and development process for Mobility iQ, described as the world’s first smart and sustainable mobility super app.

Stuart Donnelly of TMC said: “Our research project clearly demonstrates that ground transportation is a huge contributor of carbon emissions and requires real attention, both in order to measure and report on this data but also to create actionable steps to reduce it in support of reaching our net zero targets.”

TMC also warned that companies need to start measuring emissions from ground transportation accurately to support net zero efforts.

Even before the introduction of the EU’s corporate sustainability reporting directive (CSRD), organisations were recognising the need to measure and report their Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions in line with the net zero target of 2050.

Donnelly added: “The methodology for calculating carbon emissions is based on formulae and factors by Defra. However, common practice at this early stage when it comes to capturing and calculating emissions is to use estimates and assumptions.

“Our findings also align with the recent GBTA Free Now survey, which showed up that 73% of respondents do not measure or currently estimate carbon emissions from ground transportation, mainly due to the complexity of capturing the data in the first place.”

A minimum requirement to be able to accurately calculate emissions data is to have access to the engine type and distance travelled for each journey – which TMC says is still not readily available in everyday expense data.

As part of the Mobility iQ solution and to support businesses in their sustainability mission, The Miles Consultancy have built Carbon iQ, a digital carbon calculator that can intelligently detect both the mode of travel and distance travelled automatically via the mobile app to calculate the carbon emissions.

This allows businesses to not only accurately report their Scope 3 emissions, thereby meeting the new legislation, but also provide the platform to baseline and develop a real tangible strategy to reduce emissions to support net zero goals.

Donnelly summed up: “You can’t manage what you can’t measure and you can’t reduce something you don’t have a baseline for.”