Forestry body uses finance IT to measure carbon footprints

The Forestry Commission has adapted its financial software so it can track its employees carbon footprints, allowing the department to gather financial and environmental data.

Using the employee expense management system (EEM) from COA, the Commission tweaked the software so that employees would be able to supply travel mileage and modes of transport as well as expenses.

Collating the information from the EEM and fleet systems already in place, the government department responsible for the protection of British woodlands, now has carbon data for the past 12 months.

Steve Atkins, head of finance systems development at the Forestry Commission, said: 'It made sense to build a carbon measurement tool into our expense management system, because it provides an easy and reliable method of tracking staff transport emissions.'

'We now have carbon emissions data at our fingertips, which is crucial if we're to achieve year-on-year greenhouse gas reductions,' he added.

The government department, which started using EEM over three years ago, is bound by the prime ministers target of reducing emissions over the coming years by a minimum of 20% by 2020.

COA has said it will focus on how existing and new systems can help organisations reduce their environmental impact in the future.

Access Accounting and Caseware added carbon counting technology to their finance software products earlier this year.

Further reading:

UK software industry secures green boost

Access Accounting leads carbon trail at Softworld

Profile: Ian Little, FD of Access Accounting