Almost half (43%) of fleet managers at larger firms cannot yet gather carbon emissions data from employee commuting, a new study by emissions reporting specialist Mobilityways has found.

Scope 3 reporting disclosure is already required for UK firms wishing to tender for public sector contracts worth over £5m

So-called ‘indirect’ Scope 3 emissions must be reported on for businesses depending on large UK public sector contracts. But Mobilityways has found that just 44% of fleet and transport managers in businesses with more than 500 employees said that they already had consistently accurate, complete and transparent emissions data covering all types of commutes including staff using their own vehicles (so-called grey fleet) and multi-modal journeys to work.

And only 42% had accurate emissions reporting capability for wider business travel-related carbon emissions.

That’s despite the growing need for firms to get Scope 3 emissions reporting right and start reducing emissions.

Scope 3 is focused on collecting emissions and other ESG data from companies’ suppliers in their supply chain.

Such reporting is set to be mandated by stock exchanges around the world, starting with the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ by order of the US financial regulator the SEC by April 2024 at the latest.

But employee commute emissions data collection and reporting is also required as part of Scope 3 emissions reporting under the upcoming EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the linked European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) affecting UK businesses with substantial subsidiaries based inside the EU or with listings on EU stock exchanges.

Scope 3 reporting disclosure is already required for UK firms wishing to tender for public sector contracts worth over £5m.

Julie Furnell, managing director of Mobilityways, commented: “Understandably given this increasing workload, the reporting burden associated with company vehicle emissions data collecting is often being delegated to heads of transport and fleet managers. We find ourselves talking to more and more of them each month as they look for proven solutions for collecting the right data as well as finding proven strategies for transitioning their fleets to EV and stimulating staff to use greener modes of travel to work.”

More positively, over half (54%) of fleet and transport chiefs said their employers had already mandated absolute targets for employee commutes expressed as a reduction in GHG emissions in metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2-eq).

And over two-thirds (69%) of fleet heads confirmed that they had already started reducing emissions linked to employee commutes – through methods including reducing the number of days that staff needed to work per week and relocating offices to areas closer to a greater number of employees’ homes, or near public transport links.

Employers are also working to incentivise EV usage; 47% have installed charging stations in company car parks.

Meanwhile, 49% have brought in expert data and service providers to help gather GHG emissions data from employee commuting – using this data to stimulate staff commuting habit changes.

Nearly three-quarters (73%) of firms which have already fully implemented Scope 3 reporting were also able to benchmark their employee commute emissions data against sector or peer group averages which are emerging.

The research was carried out in April by market research agency Opinium, which surveyed 300 large UK-based enterprises to support Mobilityways’ mission to make zero carbon commuting a reality. It supports employers in meeting their net zero goals with its suite of climate tech tools and also operates the Liftshare car sharing platform.