The World Resources Institute has a long-standing commitment to reduce its annual GHG emissions to net zero through a combination of internal reduction efforts and external offset purchases. WRI's emissions inventory includes scope 2 indirect emissions associated with the consumption of purchased electricity and scope 3 indirect emissions associated with business air travel, employee commuting, and paper use. WRI has no scope 1 direct emissions.

Collecting employee commuting activity data from WRI's 140 staff can be challenging. The method used is to survey employees once each year about their average commuting habits. In the first two years of the initiative, WRI used an Excel spreadsheet accessible to all employees on a shared internal network, but only achieved a 48 percent participation rate. A simplified, web-based survey that downloaded into a spreadsheet improved participation to 65 percent in the third year. Using feedback on the survey design, WRI further simplified and refined survey questions, improved user friendliness, and reduced the time needed to complete the survey to less than a minute. Employee participation rose to 88 percent.

Designing a survey that was easily navigable and had clearly articulated questions significantly improved the completeness and accuracy of the employee commuting activity data. An added benefit was that employees felt a certain amount of pride at having contributed to the inventory development process. The experience also provided a positive internal communications opportunity.

WRI has developed a guide consistent with GHG Protocol Corporate Standard to help office-based organizations understand how to track and manage their emissions. Working 9 to 5 on Climate Change An Office Guide is accompanied by a suite of calculation tools, including one for using a survey method to estimate employee commuting emissions. The Guide and tools can be downloaded from the GHG Protocol Initiative website (www.ghgprotocol.org).

Transportation-related emissions are the fastest growing GHG emissions category in the United States. This includes commercial business, and personal travel as well as commuting. By accounting for commuting emissions, companies may find that several practical opportunities exist for reducing them. For example, when WRI moved to new office space, it selected a building located close to public transportation, reducing the need for employees to drive to work. In its lease, WRI also negotiated access to a locked bike room for those employees who cycle to work. Finally, telework programs significantly reduce commuting emissions by avoiding decreasing the need to travel.