UCL Public Policy

• Home
• Policy events
• Past policy events
• Policy briefings
• Policy secondments
• Policy commentaries
• Policy projects
• Policy engagement and partnerships
• UCL Research & Parliament
• Policy strategy
• Get involved
• Policy expertise
  • UCL Constitution Unit
  • UCL Environment Institute
    • Audit of UK greenhouse gas emissions to 2020
    • Travel-related Carbon Footprint
    • Global Zero Carbon Capacity Index
    • Megalopolises and Sustainability
    • Climate change: the risk for property in the UK
    • The Development of Waste Management Infrastructure in England
  • UCL Energy Institute
  • UCL Institute of Archaeology
  • UCL School of Public Policy
  • ESRC International Centre for Lifecourse Studies
  • UCL Partners

Travel-related Carbon Footprint

This report applies a methodology for measuring travel-related carbon footprint, which can be applied to other organisations, and also discusses low-carbon travel alternatives to help reduce the footprint.

The transport sector is one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases. Most people are engaged in some form of travel to work on a daily basis. Using methodology based on the guidelines outlined in the Guidelines to Defra’s GHG Conversion Factors: Methodology Paper for Transport Emission Factors report (2008), the Environment Institute calculated its own staff’s work-related carbon footprint.

It is hoped that this methodology can be applied to other external organisations as an effective means of assessing the carbon footprint created through work related travel.

The report also suggests some lower-carbon alternatives, such as voluntary offsets where assessment and accreditation has only recently been introduced, that are worthy of further investigation