2 - Introduction to scope identification

Introduction to the progress of step 2: definitions, governance, requirements and deliverables.

Source: Freepik

The step of identifying boundaries aims to frame the emissions that will be accounted for. The Bilan Carbone® is transparent about the considered boundaries. The organization must define:

• Step 2.1: the accounted emissions, which are at minimum the induced emissions (Pillar A).

• Step 2.2: the accounting scale: as a reminder this methodological guide applies at the scale of an organization, so it is about framing the boundary organisational.

• Step 2.3: the temporality of the assessment: it is about framing the boundary temporal.

• Step 2.4: the identification and mapping of emission sources, allowing to frame the boundary operational.

• Step 2.5: the identification of transition risks and opportunities.

Figure 2: Boundaries of the approach

Glossary related to the identification of Boundaries

All terms related to the steps of identifying boundaries are explained in the glossary. They are recalled below:

• Induced, avoided or sequestered emissions: These are respectively the organization's emissions (direct or indirect), the emissions of other stakeholders that the organization enables to reduce, or the emissions that the organization enables to sequester.

• Carbon accounting scale: Four scales main ones are generally distinguished: Territory, Individual, Product, Organization.

• Organisational boundary: Set of sites, installations and equipment taken into account during the organization's carbon accounting exercise.

• Temporal boundary: Specific period of time for the organization's carbon accounting exercise.

• Operational boundary: Set of emission sources taken into account during the organization's carbon accounting exercise, as well as their breakdown by emission category.

• Significance: It is accepted that some indirect GHG emission sources within an organization's operational boundary do not contribute significantly to the total indirect emissions. For an emission to be considered significant, it must meet at least one of the significance criteria. The notion of significance can be useful for setting priorities during accounting, when choosing actions or when monitoring results.

• Emission source: Physical unit or process releasing greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere.

• Emission category: Grouping of GHG emissions coming from several homogeneous emission sources. The Bilan Carbone® nomenclature uses the semantics of emission categories. Other standards may use the semantics of scopes or emission categories. correspondence links are possible.

Governance related to the identification of Boundaries

The governance of the boundary identification step is part of the overall governance of the Bilan Carbone® approach presented previously. It is the coordinator who leads the identification of the boundaries.

Requirements related to the identification of Boundaries

As a reminder, here is the summary of requirements and recommendations, for each maturity level. These criteria are explained in detail in the following subsections.

Initial Level

Boundary

• E: Operational boundary

  • E1: The assessment must take into account all direct emissions and between 80% and 100% of the organization's indirect emissions.

• F: Identification of emission sources

  • F1: The identification of emission sources must be done via a flow mapping.

• G: Identification of physical and transition risks

  • G1: The organization identifies the various risks related to climate change (physical risks, transition risks).

Standard Level

Advanced Level

Deliverables related to the identification of Boundaries

The information and deliverables obtained at the end of step 2, and associated with the above requirements, are to be reported at the end of the process:

• The choice of the organisational boundary as well as a justification (list of affected installations and sites);

• The chosen temporal boundary;

• The organisation's flow mapping (quantified, if applicable) or the analytical mapping (if applicable);

• The choice of the operational boundary (significance criterion if applicable) and its justification;

• The physical and transition risks related to climate change; according to what is required in the maturity level (list of risks and opportunities, risk mapping, or risk analysis if applicable).

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