📗Foreword
Methodological guide of Bilan Carbone®.
The new version of the Bilan Carbone® methodology is now online!
To learn more about the changes made, please consult the change log.
Summary
This methodological guide presents version number 9 of the Bilan Carbone® method applied to an organisation. It details the objectives, principles, methodology, steps of the approach, and presents various annexes and resources useful for its application and evaluation.
The Bilan Carbone® method, born from the initiative of theADEME, French Public Agency for Ecological Transition and subsequently carried by theAssociation for Low Carbon Transition (ABC), constitutes an essential pillar in the assessment and reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It encompasses not only the historical method, the reference standard, but also the tools published by ABC or compliant, as well as the training provided by accredited training organisations forming a complete set serving its community.
Since its creation in 2004, the Bilan Carbone® has undergone eight successive evolutions, demonstrating its constant commitment to advances in carbon accounting. Version 8, published in 2018, marked a significant step by strengthening the strategic dimension of carbon accounting and enabling organisations to project themselves over the next 30 years.
In 2022, four years after the launch of version 8, ABC initiated work to publish in July 2024 version 9 of the Bilan Carbone® (and to be applied in 2025), aspiring to offer a complete and coherent low‑carbon transition approach, adapted to all stakeholders involved.
Major developments of the method
Version 9 of the Bilan Carbone® provides a modular methodology, a true guide to excellence enabling the development of a continuous improvement approach and a reporting of emissions of GHGs. The methodology allows for deeper GHG accounting by conducting a strategic analysis of an organisation and proposes best practices in terms of a transition plan.
This new version of the method introduces numerous changes:
🧭 Three maturity levels to match the reality of organisations
Each maturity level (Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced) is defined by specific criteria concerning the frequency of renewal, action follow‑up, scope, and the importance of Stakeholder engagement.
The Bilan Carbone® has always proven adapted to needs (from an initial assessment to steering an organisation’s decarbonisation). These new maturity levels allow the ambition of the approach to be set and practices to be standardised. The main objective remains to enable action whatever the profile or maturity level.
📝 The transition plan, at the heart of the method
The Bilan Carbone® is asserted as a true comprehensive 7‑step approach (and not merely as a carbon accounting method) in which action planning is reinforced.
It is essential to recall the philosophy of the Bilan Carbone®, focused on the principle of “count to act”. The method becomes more demanding regarding the existence of a transition plan, but it also facilitates this process by adapting to the three maturity levels, with deliverables, objectives, and monitoring indicators adapted.
🏋️♀️ Engage all actors
The awareness of actors, mandatory in previous versions of the Bilan Carbone®, gives way to Stakeholder engagement, with the ambition to put organisations into action, movement and transition. The Bilan Carbone® thus establishes itself as an integral and orchestrated 7‑step approach, going beyond the simple carbon accounting method, in which continuous Stakeholder engagement is necessary. The method requires the content and messages, and offers open resources, while leaving free choice of formats and Stakeholder engagement tools.
🔢 A more precise and educational uncertainty estimate
The uncertainty estimate gains in precision and pedagogical clarity. From a technical point of view, certain mathematical limits of the previous method have been resolved, in alignment with best practices for uncertainties associated with databases. This advance allows for more reliable and representative estimates of reality.
On the pedagogical level, the method now integrates both a qualitative estimate of the margin of error and a quantitative estimate. This dual approach makes the calculation of uncertainty not only more useful, but also more understandable and exploitable for users. By providing clear indications on data quality and result accuracy, this new uncertainty estimate facilitates better decision‑making and strengthens continuous improvement of accounting approaches.
✅ Compatible with the best standards
The use of the Bilan Carbone® is compatible with other standards, notably historical ones: ISO, the GHG Protocol, the French regulatory method but also with the new European CSRD directive or analytical carbon accounting. This change facilitates its integration into the overall transition pathway, in connection with NZI, ACT, SBTi, and others.
🎯 Assessable assessments
A significant evolution lies in the evaluation and audit of results, now available on request, meeting varied needs such as regulatory compliance, assurance on the reliability of one’s approach for a better transition, quality control of stakeholders’ assessments, and transparency in communication.
Beyond the technical aspect, this standardisation of verifications implies the involvement of new functions, notably experts in financial accounting, underlining the move towards a more holistic and regulated approach.
🧩 A more modern method format
Beyond the technical elements introduced in the Bilan Carbone®, a desire to make the method more accessible emerges through a more modern “wiki” format: knowledge is shared freely, the document is organised by step, sections are hierarchical, the search functionality allows quick access to information, and bibliographic hyperlinks streamline the experience. This format allows both a more organised overall reading and a more effective targeted reading.
The document as a whole is more than 300 pages, which is why it is associated with a summary of the method of 10 pages, free and downloadable, which condenses the most structuring information of the Bilan Carbone® method.
⏳ Continuous evolutions and improvements
The Bilan Carbone® method aims to be dynamic and living. Work on the method continues in discussion with the carbon accounting ecosystem within a logic of continuous improvement. The next reflections in 2025 will focus on Product footprint, Territory footprint, or on framing the Bilan Carbone® concerning avoided and sequestered emissions. Consequently, updates will evolve this guide. Each new methodological integration will be the subject of a publication transparent. Any major update will lead to free refresher training provided to the ABC community by its training partners.
The Bilan Carbone® and the Association for Low Carbon Transition (ABC)
The Bilan Carbone® refers to both:
A method initially developed by ADEME, and Jean‑Marc Jancovici of the engineering firm Manicore, and today developed and updated by the Association for Low Carbon Transition (ABC). This method makes it possible to quantify and reduce GHG emissions. It can be applied to organisations, products or territories.
The tools published by ABC, which facilitate the calculations enabling the quantification of GHG emissions, as well as the associated user manuals.
The training organisations required to apply the Bilan Carbone® method, which are provided by partners accredited by ABC.
A ® trademark registered at INPI in France and throughout the EU
The result of the Bilan Carbone® approach applied to an organisation can be named:
Bilan Carbone® at Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced level, according to the maturity level chosen by the organisation.
Bilan Carbone® evaluated at Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced level, according to the maturity level chosen by the organisation, and if the organisation’s Bilan Carbone® has been evaluated using the associated procedures.
The Association for Low Carbon Transition (ABC) – formerly the Association Bilan Carbone – was created in 2011 byADEME, French Public Agency for Ecological Transition and theAPCC, to carry and disseminate the Bilan Carbone® methodology. It provides organisations and citizens with tools and methods enabling them to succeed in defining and implementing their decarbonisation strategy. ABC brings together more than 1000 organisations committed to the climate and animates a community of stakeholders around low‑carbon transition issues and more particularly carbon accounting. Through its missions, the association seeks to mobilise and train as many actors (organisations and citizens) as possible on the issues related to combating climate change.
This new version of the Bilan Carbone® method is freely and publicly accessible. However, its use is conditional on themembership or a valid ABC licence as a legal entity, thereby ensuring an up‑to‑date version of the tools as well as various additional services (for more details, see the ABC websiteAny organisation wishing to use the method or our tools must have at least one person trained in the Bilan Carbone® methodology by an ABC‑accredited training organisation (for more details, see the terms of use).
Document architecture: how to use it?
Usage advice
This document is presented in a hierarchical “wiki” format. Several usage tips:
The authors recommend that you consult the table of contents in order to better find your way within the document.
The document includes numerous hyperlinks referring either to definitions available in the Glossaryor to other resources in the Bibliographyor to other sections cited in the document.
The document is the subject of a summary of 10 pages.
The document’s hierarchy is numbered according to the 7 steps of the Bilan Carbone®. It contains introductory sections upstream and resource sections downstream.
Some subsections of this document contain information subdivided into dropdown menus corresponding to the three maturity levels defined by the method. The authors recommend that you always consult the content outside the dropdown menu, which is common to the three maturity levels, before opening them to consult the detailed specificities according to the maturity level.
It is strongly recommended to read the content of the higher maturity levels, even if they do not immediately concern the level targeted by the organisation, because, in a logic ofcontinuous improvement and progression, some specific points of the higher levels can already be sought and achieved.
Structure of specific information
Notes are present in the document. They have different meanings:
Designates an informational point of the Bilan Carbone® method
Designates the unique elements of the Bilan Carbone® method
Designates a cautionary point of the Bilan Carbone® method.
🔎 Cites a reference or an external resource for possible complement to the Bilan Carbone® method.
⏳[WIP] Designates a forthcoming evolution of the Bilan Carbone® method. In most cases at the end of the experimentation phase. For information “WIP” means work in progress.
Terms of use
The Bilan Carbone® method guide is a work made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence
You are permitted to:
Share — copy, distribute and communicate the material by any means and in any format
Adapt — remix, transform and build upon the material
for any purpose, including commercially.
Under the following terms:
ShareAlike — In the case that you remix, transform, or build upon the material forming the original Work, you must distribute the modified Work under the same conditions, that is with the same licence with which the original Work was distributed (Creative Commons Licence CC - BY - SA).
No additional restrictions — You are not permitted to apply legal terms or technical measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the licence permits.
For more details, see the terms of use.
Do you have a comprehension question? Consult the FAQ. The method is living and therefore likely to evolve (clarifications, additions): find the track of changes here.
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