2.2 - Organisational boundary
How to define the study boundaries for comprehensive accounting?
The Bilan Carbone® method is applied here at the scale of an organisation, whose definition includes any company, local authority, association, public establishment, company, society, firm, authority, institution, or a part or combination of the foregoing entities.
The establishments, equipment and installations of the organisation constitute the organisational boundary to be considered during the Bilan Carbone®. In order to define the organisational boundary, the organisation must map its organisational chart by listing all the buildings, agencies, subsidiaries, clients, suppliers, etc. that gravitate around it.
🌐 English version of this image.
Within the framework of a Bilan Carbone® and regardless of the maturity level targeted, 100% of the equipment and installations over which the organisation exercises operational control, i.e. that it operates and uses, must be included in the organisational boundary. Any other choice must be justified.
🔎 This requirement corresponds to the "operational control" approach of the mandatory BEGES-R, and of ISO standard 14064-1: 2018.
🔎 To express the Bilan Carbone® with a so-called "analytical" reading, consistent with analytical carbon accounting, the organisational boundary considers or defines the analytical axes of the organisation.
Within the framework of the Bilan Carbone®, it is possible to restrict the boundary to a part of the organisation, at the scale of a site, a project, a worksite, or an event. The flexibility this generates regarding the boundary may be relevant to adapt to certain needs (decision-making, action management, etc.).
This choice is justified, transparent, and included in the Deliverables.
🔎 If the Bilan Carbone® is intended to serve a specific regulatory reporting purpose, the organisational boundary is that of the Legal Entity subject to the regulation. The declaration of the mandatory BEGES-R must concern the SIREN of the organisation in question. The CSRD sustainability declaration must concern the same reporting company as the financial statements.
Throughout the rest of this document, the Bilan Carbone® method uses only the term "organisation". It refers to the organisational boundary adopted here (including if it is a part of the organisation or a grouping of organisations); and thus differs from an Individual, Product or Territory boundary. Certain specificities apply to local authorities or associations.
Double counting is inherent to the exercise. The emissions for which the organisation is responsible and on which it is dependent overlap with certain dependency and responsibility emissions of another organisation. When consolidating across multiple sites of the same organisation (a so-called multi-site approach), care must be taken to exclude double counting within this consolidation.
Do you have a question of understanding? Consult the FAQ. The method is a living document and therefore subject to change (clarifications, additions): find the change log here.
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