Employee mobility and corporate carbon footprint: a case study at Gdynia Maritime University

In the face of the climate crisis, comprehensive actions are being taken on the international and specifically on the European level in order to improve environmental conditions and enhance the resilience of transport and organisational systems. Calculating a carbon footprint is one of the key topics. More and more entities face this challenge: companies, institutions, organisations and, ultimately, cities. The purpose of the paper is to investigate the impact of employee mobility on the enterprise’s carbon footprint. This article gives new insight into creating a mobility plan for an enterprise and its impact on the carbon footprint. A prepared mobility plan can provide the data needed to calculate the carbon footprint of employee travel. The authors conducted a survey among one-third of Gdynia Maritime University (GMU) employees to identify the respondents' transport behaviours and preferences. The collected data enabled the estimation of the transport modal split and indicated the average distance and frequency of a work travel. Furthermore, the carbon footprint was calculated in accordance with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol standard created by the World Resources Institute and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Annual carbon dioxide emissions resulting from the travel of all university employees were estimated. The results indicate that drivers of individual cars generate by far the largest carbon footprint compared to other modes of transport.