Business mileage emissions worksheet

Download the blank log. Record commuting on its own survey, not on this log. Plan fewer journeys with the business travel guide. Return to the footprint method.

What the mileage log records

Business journeys by owned car, leased car, rental car, employee-owned car or public transport. Commuting between home and a normal workplace is a different category and does not belong here.

The log is a plain CSV with no formulas. You type every cell, including the kilograms and each row’s state. The file does not add anything up or change a state for you. From the counted rows you calculate up to three subtotals, which are never added into one mixed figure:

• Scope 1: vehicles your organisation owns or controls.
• Scope 3 Category 6, business travel: journeys in vehicles owned or operated by someone else, such as a car rented for the trip, a member of staff’s own car, or a train or bus.
• Scope 3 Category 8, upstream leased assets: a leased vehicle your organisation operates that is not in its Scope 1 because of the lease type and your boundary approach.

The factor sheet you copy from does not decide the category. A per-km car row can sit in Scope 1, Category 6 or Category 8; the classification does.

Electricity for charging electric cars is outside this log. If cars are charged mainly at your premises and that electricity is already in your bills, do not add it again. Well-to-tank fuel supply lines are also outside this log.

Download the log

Save a copy of the blank file and type into the copy. The example shows every state.

• Blank mileage log, mileage-log-blank.csv
• Fictional example, mileage-log-example.csv

Columns and record grain

Columns: movement_id, record_id, journey_date, reporting_year, vehicle_or_mode, control_approach, control_classification, activity_basis, activity_value, activity_unit, passengers_in_vehicle, shared_vehicle_code, factor_dataset, factor_sheet, factor_row, factor_column, factor_cell, factor_unit, factor_kg_co2e_per_unit, scope_category, boundary_note, kg_co2e, include_in_total, record_state, state_note.

One movement is one trip by one vehicle, or one passenger on one public transport mode. A return trip is two movements unless one record clearly covers both directions in its distance. Each row is one basis for that movement, so a movement can have more than one row.

Number cells hold a number or stay blank. The reason for a blank goes in record_state, not in the number cell.

control_classification is one of:

• owned_or_finance_lease: treated as owned. scope_1.
• operating_lease_operational_control: an operating lease, and you use operational control for your boundary. scope_1.
• operating_lease_financial_or_equity_control: an operating lease, and you use financial or equity control, so the car is outside your Scope 1. Your organisation still operates it, so it is an upstream leased asset. scope_3_cat_8.
• rental_for_business_trip: a car hired from a rental firm for a particular business trip. scope_3_cat_6.
• employee_owned: a member of staff’s own car used for business. scope_3_cat_6.
• public_transport: scope_3_cat_6.
• hire_or_lease_not_determined: the agreement type, who operates the vehicle or your control approach is not known yet. unclassified, and you mark the row blocked_unclassified.

The lease type is on the lease agreement or shown by how the asset is recorded on your balance sheet. scope_category is scope_1, scope_3_cat_6, scope_3_cat_8 or unclassified. A vehicle leased for only part of the year counts only for the months it was leased.

One basis per movement, shared cars and units

Set include_in_total to yes on one row per movement. If you find two rows for the same movement_id that both say yes, mark both blocked_dual_basis and count neither until you choose one. Mark a row you deliberately leave out alternative_basis_not_counted. Where you have fuel litres, the government guidance says they give a more accurate result than distance.

A car is counted once, as vehicle-kilometres on one row. Anyone else in the same car keeps the same shared_vehicle_code and you mark their row duplicate_shared_not_counted. If rows with one code disagree on date, distance or vehicle, mark them blocked_shared_mismatch and count none of them.

The activity unit must match the factor unit. Vehicle-kilometres use a per-km vehicle factor. Passenger-kilometres on a train or bus use a per-passenger-km factor. Miles against a per-km factor is blocked_unit_mismatch; copy the miles row instead.

Mark a hire or leased car whose agreement type or control approach is unknown blocked_unclassified. Do not place it in a scope until the agreement is checked. Mark a row without a copied factor blocked_missing_factor.

For a counted row, kg_co2e is activity_value × factor_kg_co2e_per_unit, which you type to five decimal places. Then add the counted rows within each scope_category to get that subtotal. Blocked and not-counted rows stay out.

The other states are counted, missing_activity, invalid_activity and excluded_already_in_scope_2.

Worked example: a fictional week of journeys

Northgate Services is a fictional firm using operational control. The journeys are invented and took place in February 2026, so 2026 factors apply.

The subtotals are added by hand from the counted rows. Scope 1 subtotal: 17.26500 + 25.83540 = 43.10040 kg. Scope 3 Category 6 subtotal: 6.46080 + 1.54600 = 8.00680 kg. Northgate has no Category 8 rows, so there is no Category 8 subtotal. The subtotals are reported separately.

Lease classification check

This check is separate from the Northgate example and is not added to its subtotals. It shows only which classification and category each case gets, so it has no kilograms.

If L2 and L3 rows were counted, their kilograms would go in two different subtotals, Category 8 and Category 6. You decide the category from the agreement and your boundary approach; the CSV does not decide it.

Limits and sources

The log does not set your organisational boundary, and it cannot classify a lease without the agreement. It does not cover commuting, electric-car charging electricity or well-to-tank lines. The example uses the 2026 factor set for journeys in calendar 2026. For another reporting period, copy the factor set appropriate to that period.

For attendees travelling to an event, use the event attendee travel survey instead.

Sources:

• DESNZ, conversion factors 2026, full set, Version 1: Passenger vehicles (guidance on owned, leased and controlled vehicles), Business travel- land (vehicle-km and passenger-km, and the electric-vehicle double-counting warning) and Fuels sheets. Published on the GOV.UK 2026 conversion factors page.
• GHG Protocol, Technical Guidance for Calculating Scope 3 Emissions: Category 6, business travel (Table 6.1 separates business travel from leased vehicles the company operates) and Category 8, upstream leased assets. Voluntary accounting guidance, not law.