EN1.3.1
Business travel: travelling for work (by air)
Environment
- Measuring GHG Emissions
Business travel: travelling for work (by air)
Update- 3 June 2025: We have revised the environmental value EN1.3.1 Business travel: travelling for work (by air) to reflect the recent expansion of our environmental values. For more details on the purpose and scope of this expansion, please refer to our blog post: “Expanding MeasureUp’s environmental values“. Please note that the code of the value is updated to EN1.3.1 which was previously EN3.1.
“Travelling for work by air” refers to flights taken for business purposes, rather than personal travel. This includes domestic and international flights taken by employees to attend meetings, conferences, client visits, training sessions, or other work-related activities. These flights contribute to a company’s Scope 3 emissions (under business travel) since they involve external airline services not owned or controlled by the company.
This value links to the Master Value EN1 GHG Emissions value.
Key Value
£252 per tCO2e or 25.2p per kgCO2e
The monetised value of air travel emissions per average passenger per km is as follows:
- Domestic flights (to/from UK): £0.07
- Short-haul flights (to/from UK): £0.05
- Long-haul flights (to/from UK): £0.07
- International flights (to/from non-UK destinations): £0.04
This value represents a cost or disbenefit through the creation of the GHGs emitted.
Air conversion factors should be used to report Scope 3 emissions for individuals flying for work purposes. For more information about principles for GHG accounting and reporting and three “scopes” of emissions, please visit MeasureUp EN1 GHG Emissions value.
According to the 2021 carbon values from DESNZ/BEIS, Carbon values in £2020 prices per tonne of CO2: central series for 2023 is £252 per tCO2e or 25.2p per kgCO2e. For more information, please visit MeasureUp GHG Emissions value.
UK government’s Greenhouse Gas Conversion Factors – 2024 reports the kgCO2e per average passenger per km including indirect effects of non-CO2 emissions for different type of flights. Access the data.
| Type of flight | Unit | KgCO2e | Monetised Value |
| Domestic, to/from UK | passenger.km | 0.27257 | 6.8p |
| Short-haul, to/from UK | passenger.km | 0.18592 | 4.7p |
| Long-haul, to/from UK | passenger.km | 0.26128 | 6.7p |
| International, to/from non-UK | passenger.km | 0.17580 | 4.4p |
Please visit the government conversion factors for greenhouse gas reporting website for further guidance.
This value represents a cost or disbenefit through the creation of the GHGs emitted. The value should therefore not be presented as a positive value or added to an overall social value figure.
NOTE: Aviation emissions contribute to climate change through both direct effects (CO₂, CH₄, and N₂O) and indirect effects (non-CO₂ emissions such as water vapor, contrails, and NOₓ). To fully account for the climate impact of air travel, organizations should include both direct and indirect emissions in their reporting. For consistency and comparability, organisations should maintain a uniform approach across reporting periods. Avoiding fluctuations—such as including indirect effects in one year but only direct effects in another—helps ensure accurate interpretation of emission trends.
Local Needs Analysis Data Source
Before using this MeasureUp value, we encourage you to assess the local need in relation to the activity or outcome.
Here is the most useful initial data source for assessing local need in relation to this value.
To assess local needs related to the value EN1.1 ‘Business travel: travelling for work (by air)’, you can refer to the Terminal passengers at reporting airports dataset, which tracks air travel activity across the UK. This data, covering activity at UK airports, is published annually and available at the individual airport level. While it captures all passenger traffic, it can be used as a proxy to understand trends in business-related air travel, especially when combined with local economic and employment data. This indicator is useful for monitoring the environmental impact of business travel and assessing progress toward more sustainable work practices.
Bronze
Effort
Accuracy
Monetised value:
At the Bronze level, you should calculate the approximate km travelled by an average air passenger, by type of air travel, as each produces different levels of carbon emissions. Represent the cost or disbenefit of the emissions from air travel.
Silver
Effort
Accuracy
Monetised value:
At the Silver level, you should calculate your approximate mileage, by type and class of air travel, as each class produces different levels of carbon emissions.
Gold
Effort
Accuracy
Monetised value:
At the Gold level, you would be expected to
- Measure more accurately using more specific data for your in-scope activities.
- Track the emissions over time. Steps in tracking emissions (choosing a base year and recalculating base year emissions) are explained in detail in the GHG Protocol Chapter 5 – Tracking Emissions Over Time
Gold+
Effort
Accuracy
Monetised value:
In the Gold+ level of GHG emission values, you can focus on better management and improvement of your reporting on the GHG emissions.
| Value Type: | Activity |
What's this?
This is the type of value. Some values are outcomes, which means many different interventions might lead to them, others are specific interventions that have a set value. |
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| UN SDG Categories: |
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What's this?
The UN Sustainable Development Goals are global goals adopted in 2015 for all signed up nations to achieve for us to have a sustainable global future by 2030. There are 17 Goals that address the global challenges we face, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice. The Goals are all interconnected, and in order to leave no one behind, it is important that we achieve them all by 2030. |
| 2020 Social Value Models: |
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What's this?
PPN 06/20 Taking account of social value in the award of central government contracts introduced the Central Government Social Value Model in 2020 which all Central Government contracting authorities must use in their in scope procurements. It consists of 5 themes, 8 policy outcomes, and 24 Model Award Criteria which outline key priority areas to achieve more social value. |
| 2025 Social Value Models: |
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What's this?
PPN 06/20 was superseded by PPN 002 Taking account of social value in the award of contracts, published in February 2025 in line with the Royal assent of the Procurement Act 2023. This PPN outlined the requirement to use the new 2025 Central Government Social Value Model. The Model applies to all Central Government procurements commencing on or after 1 October 2025 under the Procurement Act 2023. Out of scope procurements can choose to apply the model but are not required to do so. The updated model is structured around 5 government missions and 8 outcomes, with 17 Model Award Criteria, and a mandatory minimum 10% weighting of the total evaluation score assigned to social value. |
Evidence
Measure Up focuses on empowering you to numerically measure the impact you’re having. We recommend that numeric reports are backed up with stories and other types of evidence to help illustrate, in human terms, the impact that’s being made on individuals.
We recommend seeking consent from participants in your intervention to collect and tell their story. This should include a little background on the participant, a summing up of life before the intervention, the human impact of the intervention, and the longer term (if known) impact on the person’s life outside of, and after, the intervention.
Providing photographs, audio recordings, video interviews or even artefacts from the intervention (for example, writing, paintings, music from creative interventions) can add more to the story, and convey the emotional impact of interventions more directly.
In some cases it’s appropriate to anonymise or abbreviate the personal information of case study participants. No story should be published or shared without the recorded consent of the individual(s) it concerns. Individuals continue to own the rights to their stories and if they request you stop sharing the story or making it available online you should do so promptly and without need for justification.
Feedback
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