ℹ️Glossary
ADEME
ADEME, Agency for Ecological Transition (formerly Agency for the Environment and Energy Management), is a public institution involved in implementing public policies in the areas of environment, energy and sustainable development.
Reporting year
Year to which the collected activity data used to prepare the GHG emissions assessment relate.
Base year
Year, established at the time of the first assessment, to which each new assessment is compared. It remains the same from one assessment exercise to another, unless necessary (Example: the organisation's activity changes drastically, making the data difficult to compare).
Immediate actions
Short-term actions that make it possible to launch the action plan and motivate teams.
Strategic actions
Medium/long-term actions that substantially reduce the organisation's carbon vulnerability.
Actions to improve data collection & EFs
Actions that allow taking a step back from the completed Bilan Carbone®. This may concern assessing compliance with the Bilan Carbone® principles, identifying errors and omissions in the accounting of emissions, and taking into account feedback from the awareness activities carried out by the organisation.
Adaptation actions
Short- and medium-term actions enabling adaptation to the consequences of climate change to ensure the organisation's resilience and survival.
Base Empreinte®
Database containing a wide variety of Emission Factors made available to actors in carbon accounting. The factors are mainly historically derived from the Base Carbone®, and part also comes from the Base IMPACTS®.
Assessment
In the document, unless specified, the term “assessment” simultaneously refers to:
A regulatory GHG Assessment (BEGES-R if abbreviated)
A Bilan Carbone® (BC® if abbreviated)
A reporting assessment for the European Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive ESRS E1 (BR-CSRD if abbreviated)
Bilan Carbone®
The term Bilan Carbone® refers to the method developed by ADEME and the Association for Low Carbon Transition (ABC), which provides the definition and implementation of a progress approach for GHG evaluation and reduction for organisations. The term Bilan Carbone® also refers to the spreadsheets distributed by ABC, which enable the necessary calculations, and the associated user manuals.
The Bilan Carbone® adheres to the following principles:
Low-carbon strategy: the approach seeks to add a mitigation dimension to the organisation's strategy.
Long-term vision: the approach contributes to defining the organisation's long-term low-carbon transition vision.
Anticipation: the approach encourages anticipating upcoming changes.
Pragmatism: the approach requires to remaining pragmatic regarding the results obtained, which are not always those anticipated beforehand.
Coherence: the approach is consistent with current challenges, i.e. with national and international strategies to combat climate change (National Low Carbon Strategy, Paris Agreement, ...), and fosters the emergence of a low-carbon society.
Accuracy: the biases and uncertainties inherent to the approach are quantified and reduced as much as possible.
Significance: the approach seeks to cover as many emissions as possible, and to cover all so-called significant emissions.
Evaluation: the approach must lead to results that can be evaluated.
Transparency: the approach must be sufficiently transparent to allow its evaluation, and the results obtained must be published on the Observatoire de la Comptabilité Carbone in France (OCCF) platform.
Regulatory GHG Assessment
Diagnosis of greenhouse gas emissions for one year of a legal entity with the aim of identifying and mobilising emission reduction opportunities. This diagnosis is mandatory for:
Companies with more than 500 employees (250 in Overseas Departments)
Local authorities with more than 50,000 inhabitants
Public establishments with more than 250 staff
State services
The BEGES-R is public and updated every 4 years for private law legal entities, and every 3 years for the State, local authorities and other public law legal entities. The BEGES-R must be published on the ADEME platform.
Evaluation lead
Person trained (following the training offered by ABC and its partners) and certified to evaluate assessments, who leads the evaluation of a given assessment, ensures its proper conduct and establishes the final evaluation report. They may be accompanied by various experts depending on the complementary skills necessary for the proper conduct of the evaluation process.
CO2 equivalent (CO2eq)
Unit allowing comparison of a GHG's radiative forcing to that of carbon dioxide, calculated using the mass of a given GHG multiplied by its Global Warming Potential (GWP), provided by the IPCC (adapted from standard NF- ISO 14064-1:2018).
Coconstruction
Collective participation of the organisation's employees, as well as stakeholders.
For more information, refer to the Bilan Carbone® methodological guide.
Cprofessional conscience
Exercise caution and discernment according to the risk associated with the task performed and the trust placed by clients and intended users, and have the necessary competencies to undertake the evaluation (adapted from the standard ISO 14066:2023)
Assessment review
Perform an inspection of the state of an assessment against the requirements of a standard
DREAL
Regional Directorate for Environment, Planning and Housing. These are decentralized services of the French State, under the joint authority of the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Solidarity and the Ministry of Territorial Cohesion.
Activity data
Quantitative measure of a given activity that causes GHG emissions or removals (adapted from standard NF ISO 14064-1:2018).
Direct GHG emissions
GHG emissions from sources owned or controlled by the legal entity / organisation (adapted from the standard NF-ISO 14064-1/2018).
Indirect GHG emissions
GHG emissions that result from the operations and activities of the legal entity / organisation but originate from GHG sources not owned or controlled by it (adapted from standard NF-ISO 14064-1:2018).
Assessment of assessments
Process ensuring the reliability and transparency of assessments and their results. It also makes it possible to identify blocking points and improvements between two assessments of an organisation.
The evaluation includes the verification and validation of assessments, and follows the instructions described in this methodological guide.
Evaluation team
Person(s) responsible for the verification and validation of the assessment. The entire evaluation team is trained in the Bilan Carbone® method. The evaluation team is led by an evaluation lead. They are trained and certified in assessment evaluation.
The entire team meets the following competencies and principles:
Evaluation expertise (training and certification)
Sectoral Bilan Carbone® expertise
Optional - Ability to provide limited assurance (participation in the process by an accountant or statutory auditor. This is not mandatory, but provides another level of evaluation assurance)
Integrity
Impartiality
Professional conscience
Professional judgment
Emission factor (EF)
Coefficient relating activity data to GHG emissions or removals (source: standard NF-ISO 14064-1:2018).
These factors allow converting an activity data (km driven, kg purchased, m2 built, etc.) into a quantity of greenhouse gases (GHGs). They are built from Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) which evaluate the environmental impacts (in this case the quantities of GHGs emitted) of a product or system by studying the physical flows (inputs and outputs) over its entire life cycle.
Greenhouse gases (GHGs)
Gaseous constituents of the atmosphere, natural or anthropogenic, that absorb and emit radiation at specific wavelengths in the infrared radiation spectrum emitted by the Earth's surface, the atmosphere and clouds. This property causes the greenhouse effect.
Water vapour (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4) and ozone (O3) are the natural greenhouse gases of the Earth's atmosphere.
There are a large number of anthropogenic greenhouse gases, such as halocarbons and other substances containing chlorine or bromine, grouped under the Montreal Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol includes CO2, N2O, CH4, SF6, NF3, HFCs and PFCs.
Impartiality
the evaluator commits not to have (or not to have had during the two years preceding the evaluation) a link with the evaluated organisation concerning consulting activities, family ties or competition, personally or on behalf of their employer, that could call into question their independence of judgment. If any of these situations proves true, the evaluator must inform ABC (Association for Low Carbon Transition)
the evaluator commits not to accept payment, gift, commission or other monetary or non-monetary advantage, for themselves or their close ones, from the evaluated organisation, its representatives or third parties linked to the evaluated organisation. If proposals are made to the evaluator, they must inform ABC (Association for Low Carbon Transition) without delay
the evaluator must not enter into commercial ties with an organisation if they have carried out an evaluation for that same organisation in the previous two years
Integrity
Loyal conduct based on trust, honesty, diligence and responsibility, compliance with the law, confidentiality and disclosure of information required by law and the profession throughout the evaluation process (adapted from the standard ISO 14066:2023)
Uncertainty
Parameter associated with the result of a quantification that characterises the dispersion of values that can reasonably be attributed to the measured quantity (standard NF-ISO 14064-1:2018).
Jprofessional judgment
Be able to draw meaningful and accurate conclusions, provide opinions and make interpretations based on observations, knowledge, experience, literature and other information sources, and demonstrate professional scepticism (source standard ISO 14066:2023)
Evaluator's memo
Practical guide detailing step by step the main guidelines of the evaluation. Its content aims to help the evaluator during the process by:
specifying the steps of the approach, their sequence and possible blocking points
indicating the deliverables required to verify a criterion
referring to additional resources
framing the evaluation of certain aspects of an assessment
etc.
This document, reserved for participants in the evaluator training, is not accessible to the public.
Stakeholder engagement
Mobilisation refers to all processes that will lead the organisation to deliver the right messages to the right targets.
To achieve mobilisation, the Bilan Carbone® approach involves popularising the issues to raise awareness, empowering stakeholders, consulting, then reporting back and communicating the results.
Maturity level - Bilan Carbone®
In order to propose requirements adapted to the organisation and its objectives, the Bilan Carbone® method is divided into 3 main maturity levels: Initial Level, Standard Level and Advanced Level.
To define its organisation's maturity level in terms of carbon accounting and its position on the low-carbon transition pathway, the organisation must ask itself:
Is the organisation carrying out its first Bilan Carbone® or is it further advanced in the approach?
What are the internal and external expectations?
What are the resources?
Will this be a first or yet another awareness-raising on planetary issues?
The content of the 3 levels can be found in the Bilan Carbone® methodological guide.
Organisation
An entity constituted as a joint-stock company or having another status, private or public law, which has its own administrative and functional structure. (E.g.: company, local authority, public establishment, company, corporation, firm, authority, institution or any part or combination thereof, association, grouping...)
Operational boundary
All emission sources considered during an organisation's carbon accounting exercise as well as their breakdown by category and by emission category.
Organisational boundary
All sites, installations and competencies taken into account during an organisation's carbon accounting exercise.
Transition Plan
Instrument for establishing an organisation's vision in the face of the low-carbon transition. It describes the objectives, trajectory and the set of actions and means envisaged for reducing emissions related to an organisation's activities, and their evolution to make them compatible with a low-carbon world in line with the Paris Agreement.
Empowerment
Give each employee a role in the Bilan Carbone® approach.
For more information, refer to the Bilan Carbone® methodological guide.
Reporting and communication
Sharing with different stakeholders: the results, the actions, the global and local issues, the organisation's impacts, the role of stakeholders in these impacts, the actions that result, and the role of stakeholders in the success of these actions.
For more information, refer to the Bilan Carbone® methodological guide.
Transition risks and opportunities
Risks and opportunities for an organisation with regard to its GHG emissions and energy dependence, determined by a forward-looking analysis.
Awareness and popularisation
Strengthening stakeholders' understanding of essential information around energy-climate issues. Then rallying them around the approach to ensure better integration of the transition plan.
For more information, refer to the Bilan Carbone® methodological guide.
GHG source
Physical unit or process emitting a GHG into the atmosphere (standard NF-ISO 14064-1:2018).
Bottom-up trajectory
Within the Bilan Carbone® approach, the defined trajectory is bottom-up: the objectives and reduction potential of actions make it possible to define the trajectory.
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