📗Foreword
Bilan Carbone® methodological guide.
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 appendices and resources useful for its application and evaluation.
The Bilan Carbone® method, born from the initiative ofADEME, French Public Agency for Ecological Transition and subsequently carried by theAssociation for Low Carbon Transition (ABC), is an essential pillar in the assessment and reduction of greenhouse gases (GHGs). It encompasses not only the historical method, a reference standard, but also the tools distributed by the ABC or compliant, as well as the training provided by training bodies, forming a complete set serving its community.
Since its creation in 2004, 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, the ABC initiated work to publish in July 2024 version 9 of the Bilan Carbone® (to be implemented in 2025), aspiring to offer a complete and coherent low-carbon transition approach, adapted to all stakeholders involved.
Major evolutions 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 GHGemissions. The methodology enables a deepening of 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 many evolutions:
🧭 Three maturity levels to match the reality of organisations
Each maturity level (Initial, Standard and Advanced) is defined by specific criteria concerning the frequency of renewal, monitoring of actions, the boundary, and the importance of stakeholder engagement.
Bilan Carbone® has always proven to be adapted to needs (from a first assessment to steering an organisation’s decarbonisation). These new maturity levels allow you to set the cursor for the ambition of the approach and to standardise practices. The main objective remains to enable action regardless of one’s profile or maturity level.
📝 The transition plan at the heart of the method
Bilan Carbone® is established as a truly comprehensive 7-step approach (and not only a carbon accounting method) in which action planning is strengthened.
It is essential to recall the philosophy of Bilan Carbone®, centred on the principle of “counting 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 tailored accordingly.
🏋️♀️ Engage all actors
The awareness of actors, mandatory in previous versions of Bilan Carbone®, gives way to stakeholder engagement of actors, with the ambition of putting organisations into action, in motion, and in transition. Bilan Carbone® thus stands as an integral and orchestrated 7-step approach, going beyond the simple carbon accounting method, in which ongoing stakeholder engagement is necessary. The method requires the content and messages, and offers open resources, while leaving freedom in the choice of formats and stakeholder engagement tools.
🔢 A more precise and educational uncertainty estimation
The estimation of uncertainty gains in precision and educational clarity. From a technical point of view, certain mathematical limitations of the previous method have been resolved, in alignment with best practices for uncertainties associated with databases. This advance makes it possible to obtain more reliable estimates that are representative of reality.
On the educational front, 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 actionable for users. By providing clear indications of data quality and result accuracy, this new uncertainty estimate facilitates better decision-making and strengthens the continuous improvement of accounting approaches.
✅ Compatible with leading standards
The use of Bilan Carbone® is compatible with other standards, including the historical ones: ISO, the GHG Protocol, the French regulatory method, but also 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 of communication.
Beyond the technical aspect, this standardisation of verifications involves the stakeholder engagement of new functions, notably experts in financial accounting, underlining the evolution towards a more holistic and regulated approach.
🧩 A more modern format for the method
Beyond the technical elements introduced in Bilan Carbone®, there is a desire to make the method more accessible through a more modern “wiki” format: knowledge is shared free of charge, the document is organised by step, sections are hierarchical, the search function allows quick access to information, and bibliographic hyperlinks make the experience smoother. This format enables 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 10-page method, 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 in a logic of continuous improvement. The next reflections in 2025 will focus on Product footprint, Territory footprint, or on the framework of Bilan Carbone® regarding avoided and sequestered emissions. Consequently, updates will be made to evolve this guide. Each new methodological integration will be the subject of a publication transparent. Any major update will give rise to free refresher training provided to the ABC community by its training partners.
Bilan Carbone® and the Association for Low Carbon Transition (ABC)
Document architecture: how to use it?
User guidelines
This document is presented in a hierarchical “wiki”-type format. Several usage tips:
The authors recommend that you consult the table of contents to better find your way around the document.
The document includes numerous hyperlinks pointing either to definitions available in the Glossary, or to other resources in the Bibliography, or to other cited sections of the document.
The document is the subject of a summary 10-page summary.
The document tree is numbered according to the 7 steps of 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.
Structures of specific information
Notes are present in the document. They have different meanings:
Designates the unique elements of the Bilan Carbone® method
Designates a vigilance point of the Bilan Carbone® method.
🔎 Cites a reference or an external resource for a 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
For more details, see the general 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 change log here.
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