Intern: Brief van Transport & Environment

Companies call on the European Commission and European Parliament to improve standards for business travel emissions accounting

To:

European Commission

European Parliament

Dear Madam, Dear Sir,

As representatives of large companies, we are writing to you regarding the improvement of standards to account for business travel-related greenhouse gas emissions. We welcome the CountEU Emissions proposal for a common methodology on transport emissions, which should help to facilitate our reporting. However, we have learnt that new standards for the Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) framework of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) to provide more accurate data on non-CO2 emissions are being put into question.

In our sectors we are committed to take our part in climate mitigation, and as such are reducing our emissions overall including our business travel emissions.

To help us achieve this goal, we need the European Commission and the European Parliament to ensure a level playing field with harmonised standards and methodologies for business travel to be able to contribute to fostering decarbonised travel in Europe. The reduction of emissions from corporate travel cannot be tackled without improving climate accounting standards.

One of the barriers we face is the difficulty to fully track emissions and climate impacts due to the multiplicity of current methodologies. We are looking to be able to more accurately report our travel emissions, but better guidance is lacking. The EU ETS MRV framework should enable businesses to more easily account for the full climate impact of travel, by including comprehensive reporting standards for non-CO2 effects of aviation. The EU should ensure a full geographic scope for reporting of non-CO2 emissions from all flights entering and departing the EU, to align with the global nature of business travel and corporate sustainability reporting.

As representatives of large companies, we are calling on the EU Commission to ensure a full geographic scope of the MRV framework in the upcoming ETS Implementing Act, giving us the ability to accurately account for the full impacts of travel, in order to support efforts to reduce travel emissions.

Company logos

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Letter coordinated by (XX), Transport & Environment and Travel Smart Campaign

[To signatories: for reference, see Plane to see, T&E in Euractiv, and

Joint letter: In support of an effective non-CO2 MRV framework in the EU ETS to mitigate non-CO2 effects of aviation