Carbon footprint calculator for the travel industry
Want to know the carbon footprint of your travel business? With the free of charge carbon footprint calculator Hiilikuri, you can calculate your company's carbon footprint and map out the largest emission sources. The results allow you to plan activities that are more climate-friendly and communicate climate work.
With carbon footprint calculator for the travel industry, you can get a hold of your company's climate impact
The calculator is intended as a tool for companies. The use does not require previous experience in carbon footprint calculation, but interest and time are certainly needed. The calculator allows you to identify the main sources of emissions from your company's operations and the factors that affect them.
Who is the calculator for?
Hiilikuri is intended for all actors in the tourism industry in Finland. Use is not limited to a specific company size or type of organization, but companies, associations and municipal tourism organisations can register for the calculator and start using it.
The needs of small and medium-sized enterprises have been prioritized in the design of the calculator, so that as many companies as possible in the tourism sector can receive support and tools for their climate work, with a low threshold and costs. However, it is possible to perform even complex and customized calculations by simply adjusting the location settings as desired and, for example, using your own emission factors.
What standard is the calculation based on and where can I find more information?
The calculator has been applied to the self-calculation of companies from the GHG protocol's carbon footprint calculation standard for companies. For the sake of clarity, the consumption data used in the calculation is recorded according to the value chain in the business premises, logistics and procurement categories. The result page shows the distribution of emissions according to the application areas of the GHG protocol (Scopes 1-3).
The calculator concept is based on the VÄHIMAT calculator created at the South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences (XAMK) and has been reviewed (in late 2021) by experts from SYKE.
How is the calculator related to the Sustainable Travel Finland programme
The carbon footprint calculator is part of the STF programme. Training and more support material will be provided. More information on Hiilikuri clinics and up-to-date support materials can be found on the STF Hub.
Visit Finland recommends a regular carbon footprint calculation for all companies participating in the STF programme, although this is not yet a criterion for obtaining the STF label.
What information is needed for the calculation and how much work does it require?
The calculator is designed to be a tool for businesses. Using it does not require any previous experience in carbon footprint calculation, but interest and time are certainly needed. The calculator will help you to identify the main sources of emissions from your company's activities and the factors that influence them.
The calculation is based on data on energy consumption (electricity and heat, fuels for property maintenance) and waste, logistics (kilometers or fuel consumption by different vehicles) and purchases (euros used or quantities of goods purchased) for the selected period. Thus, the necessary information can typically be found in reports from heating and electricity companies, invoices or contracts from the waste company, travel invoices or fuel receipts, as well as accounting or, for example, order confirmations.
Depending on how easily the data is available, it can take a few hours at the fastest for a small company, or a few days at most. Larger or more detailed calculations, where you need to find out not only consumption data but also, for example, own emission factors, may require a total of a few weeks of work. Typically, the first calculation is the most laborious, and the following year, when you already know what information is needed and where it can be found, the calculation goes smoothly.
What if our carbon footprint is horribly big?
Don’t be intimidated if your carbon footprint is larger than expected. Or if, for example, a competitor has a much smaller carbon footprint than your own company, because the results are affected by so many factors, starting with the delimitation of the calculation, ie what emissions have been included in the calculation and what has been excluded. The most important thing is that the company gets an idea of its own operations and its biggest sources of emissions, so that the measures to reduce the carbon footprint are at the right place.
It can also be seen that a big carbon footprint allows you to make a big impact with your own actions. What is essential, then, is not what has happened, but what will be done in the coming years, how to achieve carbon neutrality and climate-friendliness as quickly as possible.