TRAVELPORT’S Carbon Tracker emissions reporting tool that was launched in April to coincide with the start of the WTTC Global Travel & Tourism Summit held in Dubai in April, was also presented at the ATM last month.
The new and advanced post booking reporting tool was designed for travel agencies and corporations to address the growing demand to measure and report carbon emissions as part of a sustainable travel programme.
The Travelport Carbon Tracker takes advantage of the latest developments in emissions calculation. It is one of the first corporate tools to combine industry standard compliance reporting (DEFRA and the GHG Protocol) with an advanced calculator that uses operational data and a range of key variables to deliver more sophisticated emissions analysis.
Developed in conjunction with Agresso and The Carbon Consultancy, the tool has been designed to provide information that enables sustainable travel decision making. In contrast to many existing carbon calculators, it is not directly linked to specific “offsetting” programmes and is designed for use with multiple global distribution systems (GDS).
Jeff Clarke, president and CEO of Travelport said, “At the core of all ‘carbon mindful’ initiatives is the measurement of carbon emissions, yet carbon measurement itself is a relatively new and emerging science. Research is still needed to improve on the accuracy of data gathering, calculation and reporting solutions. As an active member of the travel industry, we are cognisant of the critical environmental issues we all face and are committed to finding the best possible solutions.
“Our aims in launching this tool are to give the industry access to the latest and most improved ways of measuring emissions for business intelligence; to encourage debate and collaboration in terms of emissions benchmarking; and to enable corporations to make informed decisions for sustainable travel as part of their overall travel policies”.
The Travelport Carbon Tracker utilises a graphical interface and task-orientated approach that enables users to rapidly calculate and compare accurate CO2 analyses for each itinerary and obtain information on carbon emissions across multiple travel types (air, rail and car).
It has built in report generation capabilities and can merge information from back office systems. The Travelport Carbon Tracker is also designed to provide neutral and unbiased carbon emission measurements across multiple GDSs.