Transporting people > Vehicles owned by others > Staff commuting

You produce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from this activity if members of your organization commute to work. This is a Scope 3 (indirect) emission.

Enter data about this activity in Climate Smart to calculate the emissions from your inventory period.

On this page:

• Examples of emission sources
• Prepare the data you need
  • Option 1: Individual commute (less than 10 employees)
  • Option 2: Total by commute type (more than 10 employees)
• Find your emissions data
• Enter data into your inventory 

Examples of emission sources

Not sure if you should report this emission source? You should consider tracking this activity if:

• Employees travel to one of your locations (such as an office or retail store) every day by public transit or personal vehicles 
• Employees work from home part-time

Prepare the data you need

To get your data ready for Climate Smart, choose one of the following options based on the information that’s available to you. This will be the method you use to calculate the  GHGs emitted by your organization. 

Remember to collect information for the relevant inventory period.

Option 1: Individual commute (less than 10 employees)

If your organization has less than 10 employees, you’ll need to know:

• Total number of employees
• Commute type (for example, biking, driving, or taking the bus)
• Work location
• Number of months worked during the inventory period
• Round-trip commute distance, excluding personal errands (kilometres or miles)

Option 2: Total by commute type (more than 10 employees)

If your organization has more than 10 employees, you’ll need to know:

• Total distance commuted (kilometres or miles)
• Type of commute (for example, biking, walking, or bus)

Find your emissions data

Not sure where to find the data you need? Try the following suggestions:

Ask your accounting department

Your accounting department might already have the information you need! Ask your accounting team about collecting data for your emissions inventory. For example, your organization might provide transit passes to employees. 

Use a Climate Smart survey

We recommend starting a Commuter Survey to automatically collect data from your team (whether they commute, work from home, or a mix of both). 

Enter data into your inventory

When you’re ready to track emissions from this activity, you can start entering the data you’ve collected into Climate Smart. 

Note: Lots of trips to enter at once? Try importing your activity data.

Add this activity to your inventory

Before you can enter information about your emissions, you need to add this activity to your inventory. Learn how to add new activities to your inventory.

Add an entry to your inventory

If you started a Commuter Survey, your data will automatically be entered into the software for you. Hooray!

If you didn’t start a survey, follow these steps:

1. Choose a calculation method:
   • If your business has less than 10 employees, select Individual Commute and enter your information into Climate Smart.
   • If your business has more than 10 employees, select Total by Commute type and enter your information into Climate Smart.
2. Enter the start and end dates of the activity you’re measuring. These dates usually match the start and end of your inventory period.
3. Enter the cost of any transit passes or discounts that you might provide to your staff. If this amount is an estimate, select the checkbox next to Cost is estimate. Tell us if you paid in Canadian Dollars (CAD) or United States Dollars (USD) from Currency the drop-down list.
4. Under Description, enter information such as:
   • Identification of the employee (such as an ID number, if applicable)
   • Commuting type (for example, biking, hybrid car, intercity rail, etc.)
5. In the Note box, enter optional information including any details that might be helpful for you (or your Climate Smart Advisor, if applicable) in the future.
6. When you’re done, click ADD ENTRY. Your entry will appear in the table below.