Large IT services firms
Every quarter the board asks why travel moved. I need an answer that isn’t “the spreadsheet changed”.
Business travel and Scope 3 emissions for IT services, BPM and GCCs
Your client wants the carbon on this contract.
Your board sees the travel number every quarter. Make it the one your auditor and your clients see too.
What do you run?
Business travel measured for
BUSINESS TRAVEL EMISSIONSBoard ESG pack · FY 2025-26
Ref.
BRD-ESG-FY26
BRD-ESG-FY26
- Long-haul
- 7,400 returns, 148 million pkm
- Domestic
- 25,600 returns, 76.8 million pkm
- Hotel nights
- 56,000 India, 36,000 USA
- Cabs
- 48 lakh km
- Headcount
- 60,000
- With RF
- 35,456 t
- Without RF
- 22,948 t
- Per employee
- 591 kg
Same as the auditor
Example. Illustrative figures.
The short answer
How do IT companies calculate business travel emissions?
Multiply each flight’s passenger-km by an air factor for its haul and cabin class. Say whether you included radiative forcing. Add hotel nights × a country factor, and cabs by km. Commute is a separate Scope 3 category. Clean duplicates and refunds first.
Last verified 3 October 2026. Sources at the end.
In FY26, Wipro’s Scope 1 and 2 came to 15,724 tonnes.
Its people getting to work emitted 66,253.
Scope 1 (7,649 t) plus Scope 2 (8,075 t), against Scope 3 category 7, employee commuting. Wipro ESG dashboard, FY 2025-26. Business travel was 29,420 t, as Wipro reports it.
Clean the export, then count.
Same trips, different answers. Six lines from a real-looking export. Fix them one at a time.
Sound familiar?
Mid-size IT firms selling abroad
The client’s form wants our emissions for their contract only. We have one company total and a lot of guesswork.
Global capability centres
Group wants our numbers by the 10th, in their template, on their factors. We’re still chasing the landlord’s bill.
Paraphrased from our conversations with IT firms and GCCs.
Free business travel and commute calculator
Your people’s footprint.
Set headcount, office days and travel. See tonnes a year, per employee, and what radiative forcing does to it.
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How this is worked out
- Flights: DEFRA/DESNZ 2026. International (non-UK) economy 0.06449 kg per passenger-km without RF, 0.10916 with it. Business 0.18701 and 0.31656. Short-haul 0.07559 and 0.12786.
- Distances are one way, great circle. DEFRA factors already add 8% for real routes.
- Hotels: India 58.9 kg, United States 16.1 kg, United Kingdom 11.5 kg per room night (DEFRA 2026).
- Commute: 46 weeks a year. Mix of 35% two-wheeler, 25% car or cab, 30% bus, 10% metro: 0.104 kg per km, using DEFRA values as proxies for Indian vehicles.
- Work from home is left out. DEFRA’s factor assumes UK heating.
- Scenario estimate. Your booking and HR data give the real number.
Why now
Who’s asking, and by when.
Top 1,000
BRSR Core assurance
The top 1,000 listed firms need BRSR Core assessment or assurance for FY 2026-27.
55% by 2030
Microsoft’s supplier ask
Microsoft asks in-scope suppliers to cut emissions from Microsoft-delivered services by at least 55% by 2030.
£5m a year
UK public contracts
Central government bids above £5m a year need a board-signed Carbon Reduction Plan that covers travel and commuting.
45,000+
CDP supplier requests
CDP’s buyer members asked over 45,000 suppliers to disclose in 2025.
Answer the client for their account.
A client’s supplier sustainability schedule. Same question, two answers.
MSA_Schedule7_Sustainability.xlsxSheet: GHG · row 3 of 18
Row 3 Report the GHG emissions attributable to the services provided to us in FY 2025-26. Split by scope and source. State your allocation method, emission factors, and whether air travel includes radiative forcing.
Wording modelled on large-client supplier exhibits.
- Keep the renewal. Answer the schedule with a number for their account.
- Win the bid. Attach a Carbon Reduction Plan the board has signed.
Straight answer: radiative forcing is your call. We show both, and you say which you used. Indian commute factors are still thin, so we label the proxies.
Already on Climes
Wipro’s business travel, measured every year.
IT services, India
Climes measures Wipro’s business-travel emissions every year. Wipro reports them to its board every quarter, and they feed its BRSR.
What we hear next
“Can you split it by client?”
Travel tagged to client codes, office power by seat, commute by team. That’s the number in Act 03.
How it works
From the booking tool to the client’s form.
Carbon-OS reads your booking tool, card feed and HR data. One method, every report.
Connect
Booking tool, card feed, expenses, HR headcount.
Clean
Duplicates, refunds, cabin class, currency.
Calculate
With and without RF, by client code and office.
Share
BRSR, the board pack, a UK Carbon Reduction Plan, client and parent templates.
Method and boundary
- Standard
- GHG Protocol Corporate and Scope 3 Standards. Category 6 travel, category 7 commuting.
- Air
- DEFRA/DESNZ 2026 by haul and cabin class. Radiative forcing shown both ways.
- Power
- Location-based on CEA v22. Market-based where you have renewable contracts.
- Per client
- By delivery seat or billed hours. Travel tagged to client code at booking.
- BRSR
- Scope 1 and 2 in BRSR Core. Scope 3 in the Principle 6 leadership indicators.
- UK CRP
- Scope 1, 2 and the five required Scope 3 categories, under PPN 006.
- Factors
- More than a million emission factors, including DEFRA, CEA and US EPA.
Glossary
Eight terms, in plain words.
- Scope 3, category 6
- Business trips in vehicles you don’t own: flights, hotels, cabs.
- Scope 3, category 7
- Employees travelling between home and work.
- Radiative forcing
- Extra warming from contrails and other effects of flying at altitude.
- Great-circle distance
- The shortest distance between two airports. DEFRA factors add 8%.
- Carbon Reduction Plan
- The UK public-sector form under PPN 006 for contracts above £5m a year.
- BRSR Core
- The part of SEBI’s BRSR that must be assessed or assured.
- Location-based Scope 2
- Power emissions using the grid average where you use the power.
- Attributable emissions
- The share of your footprint allocated to one client’s contract.
Where are you today?
Three questions. Your first steps.
See where we'd start with you.
Where does your travel data come from today?
Who is asking for the number?
Do you report air travel with radiative forcing?
Questions IT teams ask.
What counts as business travel in Scope 3?
Category 6: flights, hotels, trains and cabs for work trips in vehicles you don’t own. Daily travel to the office is category 7, employee commuting.
Should we include radiative forcing on flights?
It’s your choice, but say which. DEFRA 2026 gives international (non-UK) economy at 0.06449 kg per passenger-km without RF and 0.10916 with it, about 69% higher.
Is Scope 3 part of BRSR Core?
No. BRSR Core covers Scope 1 and 2. Scope 3 sits in BRSR Principle 6 as a leadership indicator. Clients and parents still ask for it.
Who needs BRSR Core assurance?
The top 500 listed companies for FY 2025-26 and the top 1,000 for FY 2026-27, through assessment or assurance (SEBI, 28 March 2025).
What is PPN 006?
The UK rule, from 24 February 2025, that asks bidders on central government contracts above £5m a year for a board-signed Carbon Reduction Plan, updated at least yearly.
Which Scope 3 categories does a UK Carbon Reduction Plan need?
Five: upstream transport, waste, business travel, employee commuting and downstream transport.
How do we report emissions for one client?
Allocate delivery-centre power by seat or hours, tag travel to client codes, and add the team’s commute.
What does Microsoft ask of suppliers on carbon?
Scope 1, 2 and 3 disclosure, a 55% cut in emissions from Microsoft-delivered services by 2030, carbon-free electricity, and sustainable aviation fuel where possible.
Does CSRD apply to Indian IT firms?
Directly, only to groups with over €450m of EU turnover and an EU subsidiary or branch with over €200m of turnover. It also caps what in-scope firms can ask of smaller suppliers.
Which grid factor should Indian offices use?
CEA’s CO2 Baseline Database v22: 0.675 t CO2 per MWh for FY 2025-26, the weighted average.
Is work from home in Scope 3?
It’s optional under category 7. Wipro reports it: 11,027 t in FY26. DEFRA’s homeworking factor assumes UK heating, so Indian firms need a local method.
Who uses Climes for business travel emissions?
Wipro. Climes measures Wipro’s business-travel emissions every year. Wipro reports them to its board quarterly, and they feed its BRSR.
Bring one quarter’s export. We’ll clean it with you.
Twenty minutes. Your bookings, your offices, your clients. You leave with a number you can defend.
Book the 20-minute callor write to carbon-os@climes.io
Sources
- DESNZ/DEFRA GHG conversion factors 2026: air, hotel, commute and diesel factors
- CEA CO2 Baseline Database, version 22: grid 0.675 t CO2 per MWh
- SEBI circular, 28 March 2025: BRSR Core assurance glide path
- UK PPN 006: £5m threshold, board sign-off
- Government Commercial Agency, Carbon Reduction Plans: five Scope 3 categories
- Microsoft Supplier Code of Conduct: 55%, carbon-free electricity, SAF
- CDP supply chain: 45,000+ suppliers asked in 2025
- Wipro ESG dashboard, FY 2025-26: Scope 1, 2 and 3 split
- Latham & Watkins on Omnibus I: CSRD thresholds and value-chain cap
Facts on this page last verified 3 October 2026. Interactive figures are illustrative unless a source is named.