Sustainability FAQs
🌱 General Sustainability Concepts
♻️ What is Carbon Neutrality?
Carbon neutrality means balancing emitted carbon with an equivalent amount of carbon removal or offsetting to achieve a net-zero carbon footprint. This is often achieved by reducing emissions and supporting carbon offset projects.
🧊 What is Net Zero?
Net Zero refers to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to as close to zero as possible, with any remaining emissions balanced by removals, such as through reforestation or carbon capture and storage.
🧮 What is a Carbon Footprint?
A carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted directly or indirectly by an individual, organization, product, or activity, typically measured in CO2 equivalents (CO2e).
🔍 What is Scope 3?
Scope 3 includes all indirect emissions not covered in Scope 2 that occur in the value chain of the reporting company, including both upstream and downstream emissions.
🌫️ What is CO2e?
CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) is a metric used to compare the emissions from various greenhouse gases based on their global warming potential (GWP), expressed as the amount of CO2 that would have the same warming effect.
🌡️ What is GWP (Global Warming Potential)?
GWP is a measure of how much heat a greenhouse gas traps in the atmosphere over a specific time period (typically 100 years), relative to carbon dioxide. CO2 has a GWP of 1 by definition.
☀️ What is the Greenhouse Effect?
The greenhouse effect is a natural process where certain gases in Earth’s atmosphere trap heat from the sun, keeping the planet warm enough to support life. Human activities have intensified this effect, leading to global warming.
✈️ What is RFI (Radiative Forcing Index)?
RFI accounts for the total climate impact of aviation emissions, including effects beyond CO2 such as contrails and NOx. It is used to scale CO2 emissions to better reflect their overall warming effect.
🚀 Scope 3.6: Business Travel
🧳 What is Scope 3.6?
Scope 3.6 refers specifically to emissions from business travel activities, including air, rail, road, and other forms of transport used for business purposes, but not owned or controlled by the reporting organization.
🤔 Why is Scope 3.6 important?
Business travel can be a significant contributor to an organization's total emissions. Measuring and reporting Scope 3.6 allows for better climate impact assessments and helps develop more sustainable travel policies.
🚗 What types of travel are included?
Air travel
Rail travel
Taxi and ride-hailing services
Rental cars
Hotel stays (often categorized separately under Scope 3.15)
📊 What data is needed for Scope 3.6 reporting?
Distance traveled per mode of transport
Class of travel (economy, business, first class)
Vehicle type and fuel used
Number of trips or passengers
📈 Emissions Calculations and Reporting
⚙️ What are Emissions Factors?
Emission factors are coefficients that allow emissions to be estimated based on a unit of activity, such as kg CO2e per passenger-kilometer or per liter of fuel consumed.
📌 What is Activity Data?
Activity data refers to measurable data on business activities that result in GHG emissions, such as kilometers traveled, liters of fuel consumed, or nights spent in hotels.
🧾 What is the difference between Primary and Secondary Data?
Primary data: Directly measured or collected from suppliers or operations.
Secondary data: Estimates or generic data from databases or literature.
📘 What standards can be used for emission reporting?
GHG Protocol
ISO 14064
SBTi (Science-Based Targets initiative)
CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project)
🔋 What are TTW, WTT, and WTW?
TTW (Tank-to-Wheel): Emissions from vehicle operation, i.e., from fuel combustion or electricity usage.
WTT (Well-to-Tank): Emissions from extracting, refining, and transporting fuels or electricity to the vehicle.
WTW (Well-to-Wheel): The total emissions from fuel production through vehicle operation (WTT + TTW).
🌿 More Sustainable Travel Strategies
🌍 How can companies reduce emissions from travel?
Encouraging virtual meetings
Promoting rail travel over flights
Implementing travel policies prioritizing economy class
Offsetting emissions through verified carbon credits
🛩️ What is Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)?
SAF is an alternative to conventional jet fuel, produced from sustainable feedstocks like waste oils or biomass, which can significantly reduce life-cycle GHG emissions from aviation.
🚆 What is modal shift in travel?
Modal shift involves switching from more carbon-intensive transport modes (like air or road) to more sustainable ones (like rail or electric vehicles) to reduce emissions.
💻 What is travel avoidance?
Travel avoidance is reducing or eliminating the need for travel through digital alternatives like video conferencing, helping to cut emissions significantly.
🎯 Offsetting and Market Instruments
🌳 What are Carbon Offsets?
Carbon offsets are reductions in emissions of CO2e used to compensate for emissions made elsewhere. One carbon credit typically equals one tonne of CO2e reduced or removed.
➕ What is Additionality?
Additionality ensures that a carbon offset project results in emission reductions that would not have occurred without the offset funding.
⚖️ What is the difference between Voluntary and Compliance Carbon Markets?
Voluntary markets: Organizations offset emissions voluntarily to meet sustainability goals.
Compliance markets: Entities are legally required to offset emissions under regulatory frameworks (e.g., EU ETS).
🧮 Metrics and Units
👤 What is a Passenger-Kilometer (pkm)?
Passenger-kilometer is a unit representing the transport of one passenger over one kilometer. It is commonly used to calculate emissions from passenger transport.
📦 What is Ton-Kilometer (tkm)?
Ton-kilometer refers to transporting one metric ton of goods over one kilometer. It is a key metric for logistics and freight emissions calculations.
👥 What is CO2e per FTE?
CO2e per Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) is a metric to assess carbon emissions per employee, useful for benchmarking emissions efficiency across organizations.
🏛️ Regulatory and Market Frameworks
🌐 What is CORSIA?
CORSIA (Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation) is a global scheme developed by ICAO to offset CO2 emissions from international aviation above 2020 levels.
🇪🇺 What is EU ETS?
The EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) is a cap-and-trade system where companies buy and sell emission allowances to stay within a limited total cap of emissions.
🎯 What are SBTs?
Science-Based Targets are GHG reduction targets set by companies in line with climate science to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.
🛠️ Data and Tools
🔌 What is the role of APIs in emissions reporting?
APIs allow organizations to automate data collection and reporting of emissions by integrating with travel platforms, booking tools, and internal systems.
📉 What are the challenges in data collection?
Data availability and granularity
Estimations due to lack of travel detail
Harmonizing data from different suppliers and modes of transport
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