Sysav, a company owned by 14 municipalities, introduced a policy for internal carbon pricing in early 2020, following discussions with its management team and company economists. Paulina Luedtke, Environmental and Sustainability strategist, and Anders Persson, CEO of Sysav Utveckling, were responsible for developing and tailoring a suitable model.

– We started by analysing the costs and emissions of our business trips. We saw it was the trips by air and private car that accounted for most of our carbon dioxide emissions, says Paulina Luedtke.

Paulina and Anders had regular meetings with the management team, who provided comments and feedback on the emerging ideas for the model. In the end, a decision was made. They introduced a fee for flights and car travel, ensuring it was large enough to have an impact – 50 percent of the ticket price for business trips by air and 50 percent of the mileage allowance for business trips by private car. They also decided to use the money from the fees to introduce measures that make it easier for employees to meet and travel sustainably, reducing climate emissions.

In addition to contributing to the organisation's climate goals, there was a clear wish from management: the internal carbon pricing model must be easy to manage and administer. CFO Helene Vester got involved and found an efficient solution.

– At first it seemed a bit complicated, but we looked into how other organisations have solved their internal carbon pricing. We now have a simple and automated way of managing it in our financial system. It works very well, says Helene Vester.

Three tips from Paulina

Paulina Luedtke has three tips for people who want to introduce internal carbon pricing in their organisations:

• Get support and involvement from management. It is important for management to be on board, providing input on the model’s design and how the money will be used.
  
  
• Keep it simple! Start with uncomplicated things and expand as you go. We started with a climate fee on air travel. After a year, when we had developed an efficient administrative solution, we also added a fee on business trips by private car.
  
  
• Communicate continuously with both managers and employees – about your model for internal carbon pricing, and about sustainable ways to meet and travel.

This project is run by Region Skåne between 2018 and 2022. It is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).