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The CO₂ report

Find out how you can track the carbon footprint of expenses and mileages in Circula.

Marlene Schrefler avatar
Written by Marlene Schrefler
Updated over 4 months ago

At a glance

On request, we can enable German companies to calculate the CO₂ emissions of expenses and mileages processed in Circula. If this feature is activated, users with the company-wide accountant role can request the CO₂ report under "Reports".

Good to know

More than 15,000 companies in Germany will have to report on their CO₂ emissions for 2024 in 2025 in order to comply with EU regulations.

How can I activate this feature?

The CO₂ report will only available for accounts of German companies for now and can be activated by request. To activate it, please contact our support team.

How do I find the report, and who can request it?

After this feature has been activated for your company, users with the company-wide accountant role (accountants in the group "Users outside groups") can find the option under "Reports" > " CO₂" and can request the report for a customizable period in either PDF or CSV format.

CO₂-Tab in "Reports"

You will then receive an e-mail with the summary of the CO₂ values as a PDF or CSV file attached.

This is how the email looks

Example of a report


How do the calculations work?

Once you request the CO₂ report, the expenses and travel costs stored in Circula are sent to Lune's API. Only exported expenses and mileages are taken into account for the selected time period.

The entries are then matched against Lune's database using the category or merchant ID (for credit card spend). For example, the category "Flight" in Circula is matched with the corresponding category in Lune's catalogue, the same logic applies to mileages with a car or motorcycle. After matching, a corresponding calculation factor is assigned.

In the case of expenses, this factor is multiplied by the monetary value to obtain the CO₂ value:

  • Emissions factor * expense value (€) = CO₂-value (t)

For mileages, the factor is multiplied by the distance:

  • Emissions factor * mileage (km) = CO₂-value (t)

For expenses, Lune therefore estimates the purchase value at the time of the transaction and the product category, while the distance travelled and the means of transport are taken into account for mileages.

These calculations are based on the leading international standard for emissions calculations, the GHG Protocol. In addition, industry-specific methods are used to increase accuracy, e.g. ICAO for flights or GLEC for logistics. These estimates are designed to help companies understand their carbon footprint and take action to reduce their environmental impact.

The unit of the results is tCO₂e, which stands for metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. It is used to express the amount of greenhouse gases released in a way that standardizes the impact of different gases such as methane and nitrous oxide in relation to the amount of carbon dioxide that would have the same global warming potential. This simplifies the comparison and aggregation of emissions data across different activities and sources. For smaller quantities of emissions, the unit can also be expressed in grams (gCO₂e) or kilograms (kgCO₂e).

The following inputs from Circula are taken into account for expenses:

  • Product category

  • Purchase value

  • Country

The following inputs are taken into account for mileages:

  • Distance travelled in road kilometres (input in kilometres or start and end point of the trip)

  • Vehicle type (car or motorcycle)

The categories assigned to car and motorcycle trips in the calculation are based on average values.

*Circula has integrated Lune for calculation purposes.

Lune uses several databases for the emission factors to calculate the emissions in order to achieve the best possible results for each case.

Why is it important to calculate the CO₂ emissions of expenses and mileages?

CO₂ emissions from corporate spending are traditionally one of the most difficult to calculate. Scope 3 emissions, indirect emissions related to a company's activities such as business travel, purchased goods and services, operational waste, account for 80-95% of a company's total emissions. So if companies have the opportunity to understand and address the majority of their emissions, it will help them reduce their emissions. By identifying areas of high emissions, companies can develop strategies to reduce their carbon footprint, improve efficiency and comply with emissions regulations.


Do you still have questions?

💬 Chat Support
📞+49 30 588 491 01
✉️️ support@circula.com

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