How can a small company estimate employee commuting emissions?

Run a short survey: how each person travels, how far and how many days a week. Multiply distance by a factor for each mode and add up. Commuting is Scope 3 category 7, optional for most MSMEs, but buyers sometimes ask and a one-page survey answers it.

The survey

• Mode: two-wheeler, car, bus, company bus, walk or cycle.
• One-way distance.
• Days a week on site.

The calculation

Distance times two times working days times a factor per km for each mode. Published factors such as the UK government's are a reasonable start; label them as defaults.

Company buses

A bus you own or lease and fuel is Scope 1, not commuting. A contracted bus service is commuting.

What Senseible does here

Senseible reads your fuel, electricity and purchase documents into dated, fingerprinted records, so the figure you send a buyer can be traced to its source.

• Factory staff bus: Scope 1 or 3
• Staff quarters electricity
• Hired trucks: which scope

Sources: GHG Protocol Scope 3 Standard, UK government conversion factors for company reporting, GHG Protocol standards

Last reviewed 2026-10-22.