June/July 2007

Employers wanting to have a serious impact on the carbon footprint of their mobile workers and resources might be interested in two new products.

Software solutions provider systems@work has introduced a Carbon Footprint module for its time@work and expense@work products. It allows the CO2 output to be calculated for each employee; so when, for example, an employee fills in an expense claim form, the software calculates and displays the amount of CO2 generated.

The company's existing solutions allow businesses to calculate fees, costs and other expenses incurred in travel, showing the miles travelled and the number of flights, taxis or trains taken by staff. The new module works out the CO2 output. It even differentiates between four classes of car.

Software system CarbonView from Australian-based Supply Chain Consulting applies a similar concept to logistics activities. Users can work out the carbon footprint of any particular task.

 

For example, a fresh produce shipper could calculate the emissions created by flying beans from Africa to Europe and compare them with the emissions caused by using road haulage from Holland - and could even combine them with the emissions generated by the greenhouse needed to grow the beans in Europe.