Employee Commuting (Scope 3 Category 7)
Category 7 of Scope 3 covers emissions from employees travelling between their homes and their worksites, including car, public transport, cycling, and walking.
What is Employee Commuting (Scope 3 Category 7)?
Employee commuting captures the daily travel emissions of the workforce. Unlike business travel (Category 6), commuting occurs on a regular basis and is not directly arranged or paid for by the employer, though many organisations offer incentives to encourage low-carbon commuting.
Calculation typically involves surveying employees about their commuting mode, distance, and frequency, then applying DEFRA emission factors for each transport mode. Where surveys are impractical, organisations can use national average commuting data adjusted for their workforce location and size.
Post-pandemic hybrid working patterns have reduced commuting emissions for many organisations but also introduced new complexity. Home working itself generates emissions (heating, electricity) that some companies now include in their reporting. The GHG Protocol is developing guidance on accounting for remote working emissions alongside traditional commuting.
Practical Examples
A 500-person company surveys its workforce annually and calculates that car commuting accounts for 82% of its Category 7 emissions, prompting the introduction of a cycle-to-work scheme and EV salary sacrifice programme.
A company with a fully hybrid workforce estimates commuting emissions based on building access card data (recording actual office attendance) combined with employee postcode data for distance estimates.
A London-based firm finds that its commuting footprint is relatively low due to high public transport usage, but its three regional offices have significantly higher per-employee commuting emissions due to car dependency.
How Climatise Helps
Climatise provides employee commuting survey tools and calculates Category 7 emissions using response data or modelled estimates. The platform benchmarks your commuting footprint against industry averages and tracks the impact of sustainable commuting initiatives.
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