The Department for Transport yesterday launched a new best practice guide designed to help firms improve their travel planning and cut carbon emissions from business travel and employees' daily commutes.

The Essential Guide to Travel Planning offers advice on how firms can adopt more sustainable travel policies, including best practice guidance on how to operate car pooling schemes, encourage staff to use public transport, limit the need for corporate travel through better planning and communication technologies, and promote cycling and walking to work through provision of secure bike lockers and showers and changing rooms.

Speaking at the launch of the guide at the annual Smarter Choices Conference in Nottingham, transport minister Rosie Winteron said new research showed that sensible travel planning can help individuals reduce the number of car journeys by 10 per cent and cut the overall distance travelled by car by 11 per cent.

She added that where firms had developed strong travel planning policies, research showed they had been able to reduce the number of people travelling to work by car by an average of 15 per cent.

"Lots of people would like to use their cars less and sustainable transport more, but need some help to get them started," he said. "Having a travel plan is a win-win for the environment, for business and for individuals and I am confident that this new guide will inspire even more people to put one in place. "

A spokeswoman for the Department for Transport would replace the previous Travel Plan Resources Pack for Employers and provide a one-stop-shop for firms looking to develop a travel policy. She added that the guide was freely available on the department's website and would be distributed directly to employers through its National Business Travel Network.

The new guide follows the launch last month of a new carbon calculator service from online mapping service provider Multimap designed to make it easier for drivers to measure the carbon footprint of journeys.

The new service has been developed alongside carbon offset firm Carbon Clear and allows users to calculate the carbon emissions from a planned journey based on their car's engine size and also compare them against the emissions associated with taking the same journey by bus or train.