ℹ️Glossary
ADEME
ADEME, the Ecological Transition Agency (formerly the Environment and Energy Management Agency), is a public institution involved in implementing public policies in the fields of the environment, energy, and sustainable development.
Temporal boundary or Reporting year
Year to which the activity data collected to prepare the GHG emissions assessment relate.
Base year
Year established during the first assessment, against which each new assessment is compared. It remains the same from one assessment cycle to another, unless needed (Example: the organisation's activity changes drastically, making the data difficult to compare).
Priority actions
Short- and medium-term actions that make it possible to significantly reduce emissions.
Strategic actions
Medium- and long-term actions that make it possible to significantly reduce the organisation's carbon vulnerability.
Data collection & EF improvement actions
Actions that make it possible to step back from the Bilan Carbone® carried out. This may concern the assessment of compliance with the principles of the Bilan Carbone®, the identification of errors and omissions when accounting for emissions, and taking feedback into account regarding the awareness-raising carried out by the organisation.
Adaptation actions
Short- and medium-term actions that make it possible to adapt to the consequences of climate change in order to ensure the organisation's resilience and survival.
Base Empreinte®
Database containing a wide variety of Emission Factors made available to carbon accounting stakeholders. The factors are mainly historically from Base Carbone®, and some also come from Base IMPACTS®.
Assessment
In the document, unless otherwise specified, the term "assessment" refers at the same time to:
A Regulatory GHG Assessment (BEGES-R for short)
A Bilan Carbone® (BC® for short)
A reporting assessment for the European Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive ESRS E1 (BR-CSRD for short)
Bilan Carbone®
The term Bilan Carbone® refers to the method developed by ADEME and the Association for Low Carbon Transition (ABC), which proposes the definition and implementation of an improvement approach in terms of GHGs, assessment and reduction of GHGs for organisations. The term Bilan Carbone® also refers to the spreadsheets distributed by ABC, which make it possible to perform the necessary calculations and the associated user manuals.
The Bilan Carbone® follows the principles below:
Low-carbon strategy: the approach seeks to add a mitigation dimension to the organisation's strategy.
Long-term vision: the approach contributes to defining a long-term low-carbon transition vision for the organisation.
Anticipation: the approach encourages anticipating future changes.
Pragmatism: the approach requires to remain pragmatic regarding the results obtained, which are not always those anticipated beforehand.
Consistency: the approach is consistent with current issues, that is, with national and international climate change mitigation strategies (National Low Carbon Strategy, Paris Agreement, etc.), and promotes the emergence of a low-carbon society.
Accuracy: biases and uncertainties inherent in 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 assessed.
Transparency: the approach must be transparent enough to allow its evaluation, and the results obtained must be published on the platform of the French Carbon Accounting Observatory (OCCF).
Regulatory GHG Assessment
Assessment of greenhouse gas emissions over one year for a legal entity in order to identify and mobilise the potential for reducing these emissions. This assessment is mandatory for:
Companies with more than 500 employees (250 in the overseas departments)
Local authorities with more than 50,000 inhabitants
Public institutions 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
A trained person (following the training offered by ABC and its partners) and certified in assessment evaluation, who leads the evaluation of a given assessment, ensures its proper conduct and prepares the final evaluation report. They may be supported by various experts depending on the complementary skills needed for the proper conduct of the evaluation process.
CO2 equivalent (CO2eq)
Unit allowing the radiative forcing of a GHG to be compared with 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.
Accounting
Process of collecting and processing the various data needed to carry out a Bilan Carbone®.
Competence
Exercising caution and discernment according to the risk associated with the task performed and the trust placed by clients and intended users, and having the necessary skills to undertake the evaluation (adapted from the standard ISO 14066:2023)
Assessment review
Carry out an inspection of the state of an assessment in relation to the requirements of a standard
DREAL
Regional Directorate for the Environment, Planning and Housing. These are decentralised services of the French State, under the joint supervision of the Ministry for Ecological and Solidarity-based Transition and the Ministry for Territorial Cohesion.
Activity data
Quantitative measure of a given activity, causing 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 (adaptation of the NF-ISO 14064-1/2018 standard).
Indirect GHG emissions
GHG emissions resulting from the operations and activities of the legal entity / organisation but originating from GHG sources not owned by it or not under its control (adapted from standard NF-ISO 14064-1:2018).
Evaluation of assessments
Process ensuring the reliability and transparency of assessments and their results. It also makes it possible to identify blocking points and areas for improvement 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 principles:
Integrity
Impartiality
Competence
Professional judgment
Emission factor (EF)
Coefficient relating activity data to GHG emissions or removals (source: NF-ISO 14064-1:2018 standard).
These factors make it possible to convert activity data (km driven, kg purchased, m2 built, etc.) into a quantity of greenhouse gases (GHGs). They are built from Life Cycle Assessments (LCA), which make it possible to assess the environmental impacts (in this case the quantities of GHGs emitted) of a product or system by studying the physical flows (incoming and outgoing) throughout its 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 in the Earth's atmosphere.
There are a great many anthropogenic greenhouse gases, such as halocarbons and other chlorine- or bromine-containing substances, grouped under the Montreal Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol includes CO2, N2O, CH4, SF6, NF3, HFCs and PFCs.
Impartiality
the evaluator undertakes 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, whether personally or through their employer, which could cast doubt on their independence of judgment. If one of these situations proves true, the evaluator must inform ABC (Association for Low Carbon Transition)
the evaluator undertakes not to accept any payment, gift, commission or other monetary or non-monetary benefit, for themselves or their relatives, from the evaluated organisation, its representatives or third parties linked to the evaluated organisation. If any offers are made to the evaluator, they must inform ABC (Association for Low Carbon Transition) without delay
the evaluator must not enter into commercial relationships with an organisation, if they have carried out an evaluation for that same organisation in the previous two years
Integrity
Loyal behaviour 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 spread of values that can reasonably be attributed to the quantified quantity (standard NF-ISO 14064-1:2018).
Professional judgment
To be able to draw meaningful and accurate conclusions, give opinions and make interpretations based on observations, knowledge, experience, literature and other sources of information, and to demonstrate professional scepticism (source standard ISO 14066:2023)
Evaluator's handbook
Practical guide, detailing step by step the main guidelines of the evaluation. Its content seeks to help the evaluator during the process:
by specifying the stages of the process, their sequence and possible blocking points
by indicating the deliverables necessary to verify a criterion
by referring to additional resources
by framing the evaluation of certain aspects of an assessment
etc.
This document, reserved for participants in the evaluator training course, is not accessible to the public.
Stakeholder engagement
Stakeholder engagement refers to all the processes that will lead the organisation to convey the right messages to the right targets.
To achieve stakeholder engagement, the Bilan Carbone® approach involves popularizing the issues in order to raise awareness, empowering stakeholders, consulting, then reporting 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: Beginner level, Intermediate 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 more advanced in the process?
What are the internal and external expectations?
What are the means?
Will this be a first or yet another awareness-raising effort on global issues?
The content of the 3 levels can be found in the Bilan Carbone® methodological guide.
Organisation
Entity incorporated as a company or having another status, under private or public law, which has its own administrative and functional structure. (e.g. company, local authority, public institution, corporation, company, firm, authority, institution or any part or combination thereof, association, group, etc.)
Operational boundary
Set of emission sources taken into account during a carbon accounting exercise for an organisation, as well as their breakdown by category and by category.
Organisational boundary
Set of sites, facilities and competencies taken into account during a carbon accounting exercise for an organisation.
Transition Plan
Instrument used to establish an organisation's vision in the face of the low-carbon transition. It describes the objectives, pathway and set of actions and means envisaged to reduce emissions linked to an organisation's activities, and their evolution so as to make them compatible with a low-carbon world respecting 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 the various stakeholders: the results, the actions, the global and local issues, the organisation's impacts, the stakeholders' role in these impacts, the actions arising from them, and the stakeholders' role 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 prospective analysis.
Awareness and popularisation
Strengthening stakeholders' understanding of essential information on energy and climate issues. Then bringing them together 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 releasing a GHG into the atmosphere (standard NF-ISO 14064-1:2018).
Bottom-up pathway
Within the framework of the Bilan Carbone® approach, the defined pathway is a bottom-up approach: the objectives and reduction potential of the actions make it possible to define the pathway.
Last updated