The EU’s proposed new single standardised methodology for transport emissions, known as CountEmissionsEU, has been formally approved by the European Parliament.
The regulation seeks to harmonise transport emissions calculations across Europe and has been going through the EU’s legislative process over the past three years.
The European Parliament’s vote to approve CountEmissionsEU on Tuesday (28 April) follows years of lobbying for the creation of a single emissions methodology by business travel groups, including the GBTA (Global Business Travel Association) and BT4Europe.
CountEmissionsEU will be based on an internationally recognised methodology from the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), known as ISO 14083.
The regulation will allow transport operators and users to benchmark emissions from their services. It will be a voluntary system and companies choosing to publish emissions data from their activities will be required to use the CountEmissionsEU methodology.
GBTA said the regulation would establish “a consistent and accurate methodology for calculation emissions”, including flights and ground transport. Corporates have previously had to rely on “multiple, often inconsistent methods” to calculate their emissions from business travel.
Suzanne Neufang, GBTA’s CEO, added: “GBTA welcomes the adoption of the CountEmissionsEU regulation, which will enhance the business travel sector’s ability to move towards greener practices. We are hopeful that the regulation will serve as a first step towards a global methodology for transport emissions accounting.”
GBTA is urging the EU to work with partners to establish a global standard, which would make it easier for business travellers to “track and compare” emissions of different transport options around the world, as well as preventing “regional fragmentation that would be harmful for businesses”.
Patrick Diemer, chair of BT4Europe, said: “This agreement is proof that Europe can lead by example. By aligning transport emission standards across the Single Market, we not only simplify compliance — we strengthen Europe’s competitiveness and demonstrate that sustainability and economic performance can go hand in hand.”
Angela Lille, who leads BT4Europe’s sustainability working group, added that CountEmissionsEU would be “a true game changer for the travel industry”.
“By adopting a globally aligned ISO standard, it simplifies complexity, enhances European competitiveness, and enables seamless interoperability with corporate sustainability and regulatory reporting requirements,” she said.
In its briefing notes, the European Parliament said that CountEmissionsEU was designed to provide “reliable and accurate” data on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which would allow “fair comparison between transport services”.
“It establishes a methodological framework but does not govern where it has to be used,” added the Parliament in the document. “Nonetheless, if an organisation decides to calculate and disclose information on GHG emissions from transport services it needs to use the methodology provided.
“To avoid extra red tape for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the proposal exempts these companies from mandatory verification of adherence to the rules.”
The rollout of another major piece of the EU’s new sustainability framework, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), was pushed back to 2027 last year.