Lune, a leader in emissions intelligence, unveiled a new capability for spend management platforms at Money2020 Europe. This innovation enables users to calculate business travel emissions more accurately using activity data extracted from invoices, receipts, and tickets — with minimal effort.

Spend management platforms can now offer their customers more granular, accurate, and actionable emissions data by modelling fuel-consumption emissions using activity data. Previously, platforms calculated emissions using spend data, such as cost. Prices fluctuate. A plane ticket could cost £200 one day, and £400 the next when demand is high. While this method is compliant, it does not afford the same granularity as activity-based calculations. 

By extracting activity data from transaction documents, this new feature will significantly enhance the precision of business travel emissions calculations across all transport modes. This empowers spend management customers to track their ESG performance more accurately, reduce the risk of misreporting, and achieve their sustainability goals faster.

Lune’s emissions intelligence identifies and calculates emissions using activity data from transactional documents, such as the number of passengers, the distance between the origin and destination, and the specific transport used. By utilising this activity data, the intelligence can provide a far more accurate estimate of emissions compared to traditional spend-based methods.

"For example, at Money2020, an employee might expense a return flight from London to Amsterdam costing £286.72. Using the spend-based method, the resulting emissions would be 105.03 kgCO₂e. However, the activity-based methodology calculates emissions to be 196.78 kgCO₂e. This method accounts for aircraft flight and actual distance travelled, versus using just the price of a plane ticket, which we all know changes daily!" said Erik Stadigh, co-founder and CEO of Lune.

The timing of this launch coincides with World Environment Day, underscoring the urgency for businesses to act on climate with precise, actionable data.

Lune’s emissions intelligence is embedded directly into expense, invoicing, and accounts payable workflows – not just business travel – making it easy for spend management platforms to integrate emissions tracking and reporting. This new feature increases product stickiness by empowering users to submit more accurate ESG reports and inform green decision-making.

Industry leaders, such as Visa, Payhawk, and Soldo, are already leveraging Lune’s emissions intelligence to enhance their offerings and drive customer loyalty. With business travel emissions accounting for up to 25% of a company’s carbon footprint, Lune’s new feature offers a critical tool for the thousands of businesses looking to accelerate net zero.