2 - Introduction to scope identification

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

Source: Freepik

The step of identifying the boundaries aims to frame the emissions that will be accounted for. The Bilan Carbone® is transparent about the boundaries considered. The organisation 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 organisation, so it is a question of framing the organisational organisational.

• Step 2.3: the temporal scope of the assessment: it is a question of framing the organisational temporal.

• Step 2.4: the identification and mapping of emission sources, making it possible to frame the organisational 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 reminded below:

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

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

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

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

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

• Significance: It is accepted that some indirect GHG emission sources within an organisation'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 originating 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. Mappings correspondence links are possible.

Governance related to the identification of Boundaries

The governance of the step of identifying boundaries 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

For reminder, here is the summary of requirements and recommendations, for each maturity level. These criteria are explained in detail in the following sub-sections.

Initial Level

Boundary

• E: Operational boundary

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

• F: Identification of emission sources

  • F1: The identification of emission sources shall be carried out via a flow mapping.

• G: Identification of physical and transition risks

  • G1: The organisation shall identify the different 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 approach:

• The choice of the organisational boundary along with a justification (list of installations and sites concerned);

• The chosen temporal boundary;

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

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

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

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