Category 6 Starter Kit: Business Travel

Calculate emissions from employee business travel using practical data sources (expense data and travel booking data), and reduce emissions with policy and program levers.

Scope 3, Made PracticalStarter KitStarter Kit90 min setup

Disclaimer: Educational only. Use emission factors and methods consistent with your reporting standard. This kit is designed for beginners and first-pass reporting.

What you'll accomplish

By implementing this starter kit, you will:

Understand what Scope 3 Category 6 (Business Travel) includes (and excludes)
Build a minimum viable dataset from travel and expense systems
Calculate emissions using a method you can actually run today
Improve data quality over time (spend → activity → supplier-specific)
Identify reduction strategies that don't rely on wishful thinking

Who this is for

•Sustainability owners building Scope 3 for the first time
•Finance/procurement teams with access to travel/expense data
•People operations teams supporting commuting and travel policy
•Anyone who needs a practical, defensible first pass

What Category 6 means (plain English)

Business Travel = employee travel for work (not commuting), such as:

• flights
• rail
• rental cars / rideshare / taxis (where included in your approach)
• hotels (where included in your approach)

Not Category 6:

• commuting (that's Category 7)
• freight shipping (that's a different category)
• supplier travel (depends on boundary; document your choice)

Beginner rule: write down what you included and excluded. Clarity beats perfection.

Quick start (90 minutes)

Choose your boundary (what trips count?) and write it in one paragraph

Export last 12 months of travel/expense data (Template A)

Classify by mode: air / rail / car / hotel (Template B)

Choose a calculation method (Tier 0, 1, or 2 below)

Calculate emissions and create a simple QA check (Template D)

Publish a short "limitations" note (Template F)

Boundary checklist

Decide and document:

• Included traveler types: employees only? contractors too?
• Included payment types: corporate card only? reimbursements too?
• Included trip purpose: all business travel, or only certain programs?
• Included geography: all regions or a subset (document why)
• Included lodging: hotels included or not (document choice)

Data sources (pick the best you have)

Best → good → acceptable

1) Travel Management Company (TMC) / booking platform exports (best)

Typically includes distance, class, and mode

2) Expense management system exports (good)

Often includes merchant category + spend but not distance

3) Corporate card exports (acceptable)

Spend-based only; requires mapping and assumptions

If you start with spend-based, that's fine. Your goal is to improve quality over time.

Data quality ladder (use this intentionally)

Tier 0 — Spend-based (fastest)

Use spend by travel category × emission factor per currency unit.

• Pros: fast, works with expense/corporate card data
• Cons: less accurate, sensitive to price differences

Tier 1 — Activity-based (recommended upgrade)

Use distance (or nights) × emission factor by mode.

• Air: passenger-distance
• Rail: passenger-distance
• Car: distance or fuel (if known)
• Hotel: nights (or spend if nights unavailable)

Tier 2 — Supplier-specific (best, later)

Use airline/hotel or travel provider emissions reports where available.

Step-by-step implementation

1Export your data (start with 12 months)

Export fields (minimum):

• transaction date
• traveler identifier (optional; can be anonymized)
• merchant / supplier name
• expense category (air/rail/hotel/car)
• amount and currency
• trip region (if available)
• distance and cabin/class (if available)

2Map transactions into travel modes

Create 4 buckets:

Air

Rail

Ground

rental, rideshare, taxi

Hotel

If you can't classify automatically, start manual for top spend vendors and expand.

3Choose your method (be explicit)

Pick one for v1:

• Spend-based for all modes (Tier 0), OR
• Activity-based for air + rail, spend-based for hotel/ground (hybrid), OR
• Activity-based for all (Tier 1)

Write a "method note" (Template F).

4Calculate emissions (simple formula)

General formula:

Activity-based examples:

• Air: passenger-miles × EF
• Rail: passenger-miles × EF
• Hotel: nights × EF

Spend-based examples:

• Spend ($) × EF ($→kgCO2e)

Use one consistent set of emission factors for your reporting period and document the source internally.

5QA checks (minimum viable)

Check:

• total spend and trip counts match finance expectations (within reason)
• no negative values
• obvious outliers (e.g., one transaction dominating)
• year-over-year reasonableness if you have prior year

Log anomalies and decisions.

Reduction strategy (what actually works)

Use the Avoid / Shift / Improve framework:

Avoid

• default virtual for internal meetings
• travel approval thresholds for high-emission trips
• combine trips (fewer flights)

Shift

• rail instead of short-haul flights where feasible
• economy instead of premium cabins (policy + tool defaults)

Improve

• preferred airlines/hotels with better emissions reporting or efficiency
• reduce hotel nights via scheduling
• shift ground transport from single-occupancy rideshare to shared/carpool

Governance lever

Add travel emissions to cost center reporting (internal transparency)

Templates (copy/paste)

Template A — Minimum Data Export Spec

Field	Required?	Notes
	Yes
	Yes	air/rail/hotel/ground
	Yes	merchant or booking provider
	Yes
	Recommended
	Optional	if available
	Optional	passenger-distance if available
	Optional	air travel quality driver
	Optional	if available

Template B — Travel Data Table (starter)

Period	Mode	Supplier	Amount	Currency	Distance	Unit	Nights	EF used	Emissions (kgCO2e)	Notes
—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

Template C — Emission Factor Register (internal)

Mode	Factor name	Unit	Version/year	Source	Notes
—	—	—	—	—	—

Template D — QA and Anomaly Log

Date	Issue	Severity	Decision	Owner	Notes/Evidence
—	—	—	—	—	—

Template E — Travel Reduction Opportunity List

Opportunity	Lever	Estimated impact	Effort	Owner	Next step
—	—	—	—	—	—

Template F — Method and Limitations Note

Category 6 (Business Travel) Method Note

Boundary:
- Included: [employees/contractors], [corporate card/reimbursements], [regions]
- Excluded: commuting (Category 7), [other exclusions]

Data sources:
- [TMC export / expense system / corporate card]

Calculation method:
- Tier used (Spend-based / Activity-based / Hybrid)
- Key assumptions:
  - [example: hotel nights estimated from spend bands]
  - [example: ground transport treated as spend-based]

Known limitations:
- [example: missing distance for certain vendors]
- [example: partial coverage for reimbursed travel]

Common pitfalls

•Mixing commuting into Category 6 (keep commuting in Category 7)
•Treating "hotel spend" as emissions without documenting assumptions
•Double-counting travel booked in one system and expensed in another
•No boundary statement (numbers become impossible to defend)

KPIs to track

•Coverage: % of travel spend included
•Data quality mix: % Tier 0 vs Tier 1 vs Tier 2
•Emissions per traveler or per revenue unit (internal use)
•Reduction indicators: short-haul flight share, premium cabin share, rail substitution rate

Change log

v1.0 (2026-01): Latest release