How are you getting to work? By car, bike, bus or train? And what is it costing the planet to get workers to workplaces and home again?
It is hoped a new app will help businesses easily calculate the carbon cost of their workers' travel and encourage companies to cut that carbon footprint or offset it.
CarbonWise has been developed by Christchurch-based transport technology company Abley.
Sustainability specialist Benjamin Walch told Checkpoint the app involved employees filling out a quick survey on their recent travel modes. They can then see a summary of their emissions.
"On the employers' side for each workplace, they'll be able to see how the employees travelled to work and see the associated emissions, which is what they can use for sustainability reporting."
Walch said if an organisation wanted to reduce emissions, dealing with its workers' travel modes was a good starting point.
"In France, where I'm from, there's a requirement for employers to contribute to employees' public transport passes, or to subsidise kilometres cycled. So there's a clear recognition in other places that the employer has a role to play.
"And actually what we've found working with clients is that if you provide the right facilities to your employees, including cycle parking or car parking spaces that are reserved for carpoolers, then you can really change the behaviour.
"We can't expect people to make the right commuting choices if they're not given the options.
"We still see lots of businesses where the only way to get to the place is in the car, and there's free parking… it's a strong incentive to keep driving, so that's where the employer can really make a difference.
"There are also international standards on how to report on emissions, and commuting emissions are one category of emissions that is optional for businesses to report on.
"But it's clearly something that has been recognised as being partly the responsibility of the employer in those international standards."
Walch said a ballpark figure for someone taking the bus to work five days a week would be between 200kg and 800kg of CO2 a year.
For someone driving a car to work everyday, between 8km and 10km, it could be up to 2 tonnes of CO2 a year, depending on the car you drive.
"That's quite significant because it's basically five to 10 Auckland to Christchurch return flights," Walch said.
Working from home had boomed in the past few years and was one of the best opportunities to reduce emissions, he said. But it was not always practical for everyone.
Even working from home one day a week could have a large impact, he said.
"And if they do have to travel, look at carpooling. There might be some people going in the same direction.
"You can combine public transport with an e-scooter, or you can cycle. We're seeing more and more that people are cycling longer distances now with the availability of e-bikes. In the past, 10km cycling would have been a lot, now on an e-bike it's actually very achievable."
Walch said he often worked from home and commuted on a "human-powered" bike.
