Advito's proprietary carbon-emissions tracking methodology has earned certification from the International Standards Organization, the corporate travel consultancy announced Tuesday. Dubbed GATE4, Advito's methodology has been validated to meet the ISO 14064 and 14065 certification standards, both of which fall under the ISO's 14000 series of environmental management standards.
The name "GATE4" is short for Global Analytics for Travel Emissions, with the "4" representing the four forms of business travel for which the methodology can be applied: air, hotel, rail and car. Advito since late 2020 has been piloting the methodology with clients, and the ISO certification means that the emissions-reporting figures now can be included in annual financial reports as recognized carbon calculations, Advito said.
Emissions tracking has been a focal point of growing efforts to create more environmentally sustainable corporate travel programs. But ensuing the accuracy of emissions measurements is critical, said Julien Etchanchu, who heads Advito's Sustainable Collaboration practice, the sustainability-focused suite of services the consultancy launched in late 2019.
"The challenge is knowing … what information to rely upon and what actions to take," said Etchanchu. "Unfortunately, with the existing industry standard, we found that travel managers and buyers were getting inaccurate emissions reporting across all categories, and that our calculations were sometimes two to three times lower or higher."
The GATE4 methodology also takes into account multiple components not included in standard carbon reporting, such as passenger-to-freight ratios, hotel eco-labels, amenities and rail operators' individual sustainability initiatives, Advito said.