5.2 - Construction of the action plan
What are the essential elements to build an operational action plan?
The action plan is the operational roadmap of the transition plan. It brings together all the specific actions and measures that will be undertaken by the organisation following the completion of its carbon accounting. They must be in accordance with theoverall objective that the organisation decides to adopt. So that they are feasible and understandable, their definition is framed as follows:
The different categories of actions
Actions can be classified in one or two of the following categories:
Immediate actions : short-term actions enabling the launch of the transition plan and to motivate teams. These actions can be implemented without major difficulties and within a short timeframe;
Priority actions : short- and medium-term actions that enable a strong reduction of emissions, since they directly concern significant categories;
Strategic actions : medium- and long-term actions concerning the organisation’s overall strategy and business model and that therefore enable a strong reduction of the organisation’s carbon and economic vulnerability;
Process improvement action : actions enabling taking a step back from the completed Bilan Carbone®. This may concern the evaluation of compliance with the Bilan Carbone® principles, improving data collection to gain precision and reduce uncertainties, the increase in maturity level, and the consideration of feedback regarding the Stakeholder engagement carried out by the organisation;
Adaptation actions : short- and medium-term actions enabling adaptation to the consequences of climate change to ensure the organisation’s resilience and survival. They respond to the issues raised by theidentification of risks. These actions primarily concern the Standard and Advanced levels.
Any action must aim to reduce or avoid GHG emissions and/or vulnerabilities, as well as to mobilise where possible a potential for progress such as sequestration. Each action depends on the organisation’s sector of activity. It will therefore be more relevant and its impact greater if it remains close to the organisation’s core activity.
Steps for selecting the actions to implement
At first, a wide range of actions is studied. Subsequently, a collective decision must be taken on the organisation’s footprint reduction directions, which will guide the choice of the types of actions to put in place. Moreover, the choice will often be guided by the balance between carbon footprint reduction and other indicators (environmental, economic, social).
The steps to follow to choose the actions are presented below.
🔎 These steps are aligned with the Guide for the construction, implementation and monitoring of a transition plan of ADEME:
Definition of axes or orientations for reduction, which are the major categories of the transition plan that will group together several actions of the same theme. The axes can correspond to the significant categories of the assessment. (for example: collaboration with suppliers, responsible procurement, internal work, Stakeholder engagement...) ;
Identification of human resources, technical and financial necessary and/or available to make the transition plan feasible;
Definition of selection criteria for actions and their prioritisation (for example: quantification of the action’s impact, required budget, prerequisites for the action’s implementation...) ;
Evaluation of the reduction actions with regard to the defined criteria and selection of those with the best results. This must be done while ensuring the organisation’s overall emission reduction objective by considering the emission reductions generated by the action but also the budget required to implement the action;
Carrying out the action sheets. Their content will be defined below ;
Validation of the reduction actions to be implemented and of their action sheet by the transition plan leads.
When selecting actions, monitoring the actions implemented since the last assessment helps consolidate and ensure the continuity of existing relevant actions.
Definition of action sheets
Each action is defined by an action sheet. These gather the following information, which is mandatory (additional information may however be added):
Objectives and targets (sites and activities) of the action;
Quantified potentials for emission reductions;
Action owner(s);
Detailed description of the action and of the involvement of stakeholders;
Budget and provisional schedule of the action;
Indicators of implementation, monitoring and performance;
Facilitators and potential barriers to the action;
Category(ies) of the action (see here) ;
Nature of the action (see here) ;
Relevance of the action (see here) this only concerns mitigation actions.
Characterise the nature of the action
In the interest of transparency of the transition plan, the actions that compose it can be classified according to their nature:
Physical actions: modifications of equipment and systems;
Organisational actions: change in organisational processes;
Behavioral actions: change in daily behaviours;
Regulatory actions: modification of rules.
🔎 Classification compatible with the ADEME method Quanti GES.
Characterise the relevance of the action
Mitigation actions (as opposed to adaptation actions or process improvement action) can also be classified by level of relevance :
Maximum relevance - Reduction actions within the organisation’s core activity: the organisation is fully responsible for the action and its impacts;
Reduction actions within the organisation’s value chain: the organisation is dependent and therefore cannot fully control the impacts of the action that is part of its value chain;
Reduction actions outside the organisation’s value chain: the organisation is dependent and therefore cannot fully control the impacts of the action that is outside its value chain;
Relative relevance - Avoidance actions: action resulting from products and services distributed or sold by the organisation, which substitute a more carbon-intensive solution at final customers, to avoid emissions or, failing that, to reduce them;
Avoidance financing actions: Financing actions for emission reduction projects outside the organisation’s value chain;
Sequestration actions: action within the organisation’s field of activity, aiming to reduce GHGs in the air thanks to the increase of carbon sinks;
Minimum relevance - Compensation actions: when impacts could not be avoided, and through financing projects for GHG sequestration outside the organisation’s value chain.
It is important to prioritise more relevant actions, and that compensation, sequestration and avoidance actions remain minority.
Exigences relatives au Plan d'action
🔎 To express the Bilan Carbone® with a so-called “analytical” reading, consistent with analytical carbon accounting, each action integrates, in addition to the information above, the analytical dimensions concerned.
If actions can correspond to several analytical dimensions: they will be subdivided into several action sheets, identified on a single axis in order to have only one associated responsible person. For example, to act at sites level, creating an action sheet per site manager makes the action operational, involves only the managers of the sites concerned, while enabling the steering of aggregated actions at the scale of all sites.
This operational breakdown of the action for each responsible person (by internal analytical axis: team, activity, project ...) ; and by external stakeholders (by external analytical axis: suppliers, customers), makes it possible to put emissions and actions into perspective for each analytical axis, and therefore to track results.
Regarding the “ process improvement actions », specific actions for the structuring of analytical carbon accounting can be considered
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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