Apr 21 2008
Travelport today announced the introduction of the Travelport Carbon Tracker, a new and advanced post-booking reporting tool 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(1) 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 Travelport Carbon Tracker has been designed to provide robust intelligence to inform and enable sustainable travel decision-making. In contrast to many existing carbon calculators, the Travelport Carbon Tracker 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 cognizant 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.
The Travelport Carbon Tracker provides corporations with a more accurate measurement of emissions and is a vital step towards a better understanding of how to more effectively manage carbon footprints. It reinforces Travelport's active role in sustainable travel initiatives that address environmental issues on a global scale. Sustainable travel is essential not only to the health of the planet but to the health of the travel industry, which contributes to global economic development, cross cultural understanding, tolerance and respect.
Visit http://www.travelport.com/CarbonTracker to see a preview of the Carbon Tracker.
Note
- Two key reporting standards - DEFRA and the GHG Protocol - which are recommended for UK and international corporate disclosure reporting.