Glossary
What are the acronyms and terms used by the method?
A
Process improvement action
Actions allowing reflection on the completed Bilan Carbone®. This may relate to evaluating compliance with the principles of the Bilan Carbone®, improving data collection to gain precision and reduce uncertainties, raising the maturity level, and taking into account feedback regarding the Stakeholder engagement carried out by the organisation.
Adaptation actions
Actions in the short and medium term enabling adaptation to the consequences of climate change to ensure the organisation's resilience and survival. They address the issues raised by theidentification of risks and opportunities. These actions primarily concern the Intermediate and Advanced level.
Stakeholder engagement action
Association of a phase of Stakeholder engagement (awareness raising, Empowerment, coconstruction, or Reporting and communication), at a stage, with one or more targets, with a more or less specific adaptation of messages depending on the organisation's profile.
Immediate actions
Actions in the short term, which enable launching the action plan and motivating teams. These actions can be implemented without major difficulties and within a short timeframe
Priority actions
Actions in the short/medium term that enable a strong reduction of emissions, as they directly concern significant emission categories.
Strategic actions
Actions in the medium and long term concerning the organisation's overall strategy and economic model and which therefore enable a strong reduction of the organisation's carbon and economic vulnerability.
ADEME, French Public Agency for Ecological Transition
ADEME, French Public Agency for Ecological Transition (formerly Agence de l'Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l'Énergie), is a public establishment participating in the implementation of public policies in the fields of environment, energy and sustainable development.
🔗For more information on ADEME, here is its site.
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
Method for assessing the environmental footprint, multi-criteria and multi-stage across the whole life cycle.
Reporting year
Year, established at the time of the first assessment, to which each new assessment is compared. It remains the same from one assessment period to another, unless needed (Example: activity changes drastically).
Reporting year
Year to which the activity data collected to establish the GHG emissions assessment relate.
It therefore corresponds to 12 consecutive months, on a calendar or fiscal year according to the organisation's practices.
Association
Convention by which two or more persons permanently pool their knowledge or activity for a purpose other than sharing profits. (Source Legifrance)
An association is therefore an Organisation, in the sense of Bilan Carbone® and its organisational boundary.
Association of Professionals in Climate, Energy and Environment Consulting (APCC)
The Association of Professionals in Climate, Energy and Environment Consulting brings together actors who undertake consulting missions and support private and public organisations on a daily basis across all themes related to climate issues, the transition of structures towards a mode low-carbon approach, as well as on themes related to sustainable mobility.
The APCC aims to contribute to the transition to an economy with a low climate impact, more frugal in its energy consumption and more respectful of the environment.
It focuses on the role of Organisations (companies, local authorities, public establishments) in this transition. Indeed, Organisations have a major role to play in the face of climate, energy and environmental challenges.
On a daily basis, the objective is carried by 3 main missions, which guide all actions:
Represent the companies that support and advise companies, local authorities and public establishments on issues related to climate change, to carry their voice to bodies and stakeholders such as the Ministry of Ecological Transition, ADEME, ABC …
Embed our members in an approach of exchange and continuous improvement, to enable them to be ever more relevant in their professions.
Inform, explain, provide tools and disseminate good practices to Organisations on topics related to climate change and sustainable mobility, to encourage action and enable concrete action.
🔗 For more information on the Association of Professionals in Climate, Energy and Environment Consulting, here is its site.
Self assessment
Monitoring of the process ofEvaluation of a Bilan Carbone® internally and autonomously, based on the freely available evaluation guide. The self assessment therefore does not call on the evaluation process by an authorised evaluator (trained and certified).
A self assessment allows internal use: to target whether certain maturity level criteria are met, to progress in continuous improvement, to check the relevance of launching an external evaluation, to confirm internally its maturity and thus the interest of proceeding with complementary low-carbon transition approaches.
A self assessment does not allow declaring its Bilan Carbone® approach as evaluated, nor to communicate externally the result obtained.
Analytical dimensions
An analytical dimension, in accounting, designates the variables used to measure the different production costs. It works like a marker used to filter similar entries and retrieve groups for analysis purposes. Analytical dimensions are inherent to analytical accounting. They support strategic decisions by providing a level of detail to accounting data.
Analytical dimensions can be of different natures. At the scale of a company or group, an analytical dimension allows for example to categorise:
The company's activities,
Physical sites,
The legal organisation (subsidiaries, franchisees)
The human organisation (teams, employees),
Projects,
Products or services,
Suppliers,
Clients.
For each of these dimensions, analytical codes define the possible values.
Analytical dimensions can be used in the Bilan Carbone® for the analytical carbon accounting, to build a reading or a nomenclature used for the operational boundary, to allocate emissions of the GHG profile, etc. They correspond to the division of emissions by responsibility, in order to build a transition plan with several levels of responsibility within the organisation.
Analytical dimensions are not always present in an organisation's accounting (they sometimes do not have an analytical plan). However, even without a formalised analytical plan, the organisation sometimes has a view of its costs and budgets by dimensions (supplier, client, project, site, team, etc.). These dimensions will be used by analytical carbon accounting because they are those that enable managing the organisation.
B
Low carbon
Qualifies the ambition to contribute to mitigating climate change at a level consistent with the objectives of the 2015 Paris Agreement, or future global political agreements likely to replace the Paris Agreement in the coming years. A decarbonisation strategy, for example, is low carbon (or “aligned with the low-carbon pathway”) if the strategy's objectives, which include carbon performance targets, meet this level of ambition.
(Source ACT Step by Step)
Emission factor database
Documentation of emission factors that can be used during Bilan Carbone® calculations. There are several databases detailed in the annex. The Base Empreinte® of ADEME remains the preferred option, except in cases of exception (Example: calculation of specific EFs for an organisation's case study assessment).
Carbon budget
This is the maximum quantity of greenhouse gas emissions an Organisation can emit over a given period while remaining aligned with a climate objective (for example the Paris Agreements).
An Organisation's carbon budget should serve as its emissions ceiling, broken down over time, to steer emission reductions and guide strategic decisions (investments, activities, decarbonation pathway).
The reference pathways often aim to collectively respect a carbon budget. If actual emissions do not follow the chosen pathway, the initially allocated carbon budget will be exceeded. It will then be necessary to recalculate the pathway to follow to reduce even more and counterbalance this exceedance (overshoot).
C
Characterisation
Characterisation does not directly concern the Bilan Carbone® since it does not influence calculation results. It only modifies how emissions will be aggregated in the different exports (BEGES-R, ISO 14064, GHG-P), to allocate the various emission sources considered within the Bilan Carbone® into the correct categories and subcategories of other carbon accounting methods.
The Organisation will generally have to characterise these emission sources. This characterisation depends on the Control approach (operational, financial, ...) chosen by the Organisation.
Under operational control, for example, an emission source can generally be characterised as "Operated" or "Non-operated", or "Supported or Non-supported". For more detail, the Organisation should refer to the different concerned methods.
Emission category
Set of GHG emission categories. Two emission categories are distinguished: direct emissions and indirect emissions.
The semantics of emission categories are primarily used for standards other than the Bilan Carbone® (such as ISO 14064-1 or BEGES-R). correspondence links are possible.
Evaluation lead
Person trained (following the training offered by ABC and its partners) and certified in theEvaluation of a Bilan Carbone®, who leads the evaluation of a given assessment, ensures its proper conduct and establishes the final evaluation report. They may be accompanied by various experts according to the complementary skills necessary for the proper conduct of the evaluation process.
CO2 equivalent (CO2eq)
Unit allowing comparison of a GHG's radiative forcing to that of carbon dioxide, calculated using the mass of a given GHG multiplied by its Global Warming Potential (GWP), provided by the IPCC (adapted from the standard NF- ISO 14064-1:2018).
Coconstruction
This is a phase of Stakeholder engagement in the sense of Bilan Carbone®:
The main issue of coconstruction is to value initiatives, sharing, and consultation. Coconstruction is central and therefore closely linked to other types of Stakeholder engagement: the consulted Stakeholders must have a sufficient level of information on the approach, which requires upstream awareness raising and effective Outreach, as well as transparent Reporting and communication. Coconstruction gives voice, involves participation, which enables Empowerment. It identifies the carbon reduction axes that the Organisation and its Stakeholders can consider, based on their knowledge (of the process, the product, the organisation).
Objective : Confront the choice of actions with real possibilities and potential alternatives, to arrive at a transition plan perceived as a common project for the Organisation and its Stakeholders.
Indicator : Level of participation in the coconstruction of the transition plan.
Compatibility
Here the capacity of the Bilan Carbone® to be used to meetother frameworks. The notion of “compatible with” does not guarantee reciprocity.
Carbon offsetting
Mechanism to fully or partially compensate an Organisation's GHG emissions, which can be triggered directly by a process located outside the Organisation's operational boundary, or indirectly by the purchase of GHG reductions in the form of carbon credits, carried out by a third party (adapted from the standard NF-ISO 14069:2013).
Accounting
Process of collecting and exploiting the various data necessary to carry out a Bilan Carbone®.
Assessment review
Carry out an inspection of the state of an assessment against the requirements of a standard.
Control (Mode of)
The standard ISO 14064-1 or the BEGES-R describe two approaches to determine the organisational boundary:
The “share of equity” approach: installations and equipment are included in the organisational boundary in proportion to the entity's shareholding in them.
The “control” approach: International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) define “control” as "the power to govern the financial and operating policies of an entity so as to obtain benefits from its activities".
Financial control: 100% of the equipment and installations over which it exercises financial control are included in the organisational boundary. An entity has financial control of an operation if it is able to direct the financial and operating policies of the operation in order to obtain economic benefits from its activities (source: NF - ISO 14064-1:2018).
Operational control : 100% of the equipment and installations over which it exercises operational control, i.e. which it operates, are included in the organisational boundary. An entity has operational control of an operation if that entity, or one of its subsidiaries, has full authority to implement its operating policies at the operational level (source: NF - ISO 14064-1:2018).
The Bilan Carbone® adopts the “operational control” approach for the definition of the organisational boundary.
Coordinator
The Bilan Carbone® coordinator pilots the approach. They can be a person internal or external to the Organisation.
D
Monitoring system
A monitoring system, such as a dashboard, allows tracking the actions of the transition plan and the indicators. It is filled in periodically internally by the Bilan Carbone® lead. A tool is proposed by ABC with the tools of version 9 of the Bilan Carbone® method, but alternatives are accepted.
The use of this system does not prescribe imposed modalities of discussion around monitoring; these are at the Organisation's discretion.
This tool also enables recalculation of significant emissions, which serve as performance indicators of the transition plan.
Documentation
Process similar to the results presentation intended for internal use only. It aims at the continuous improvement of carbon accounting within the Organisation. The documentation is useful for future handovers and renewals.
Activity data
Quantitative measure of a given activity causing GHG emissions or removals (adapted from the standard NF ISO 14064-1:2018).
An activity data can be actual (physical or accounting), extrapolated, statistical or estimated.
E
Standard deviation and geometric standard deviation
Standard deviation and geometric standard deviation are two statistical measures used to assess the dispersion or variability of data.
Standard deviation is a measure of dispersion for additive or normalised data (for a normal distribution), while the geometric standard deviation is suited to multiplicative data or for a log-normal distribution.
Carbon accounting scale
In the context of carbon accounting, four main scales are generally distinguished: Territory, Individual, Product, Organisation. More details in introduction.
Direct GHG emissions
GHG emissions from sources owned or controlled by the legal entity / Organisation (adapted from the standard NF-ISO 14064-1/2018).
To be distinguished from indirect emissions.
Indirect GHG emissions
GHG emissions that result from the operations and activities of the legal entity / Organisation but arise from GHG sources not owned by or not under its control (adapted from the standard NF-ISO 14064-1:2018).
To be distinguished from direct emissions.
Induced emissions
Direct and indirect GHG emissions within the Organisation's value chain.
The Bilan Carbone® quantifies and acts on induced emissions.
See definition of Pillar A.
To be distinguished from avoided and sequestered emissions.
Avoided emissions
Emission reductions of other Stakeholders, by an Organisation's activities, products and/or services. These reductions therefore take place outside its operational boundary. They are evaluated relative to a baseline scenario.
Within the Bilan Carbone®: an Organisation can determine the GHG emissions avoided by an activity. The Organisation shall not deduct these avoided emissions from total emissions, but may account for them and, if applicable, report them separately.
See definition of Pillar B.
To be distinguished from induced and sequestered emissions.
Significant emissions
Within the operational boundary of an Organisation, it is accepted that some indirect GHG emission sources do not contribute significantly to the total indirect emissions and can, in some cases, be excluded from the assessment. Significant emissions are then the quantified and reported GHG emissions of an Organisation, compliant with the criteria of significance defined by the Organisation (notion originating from theISO 14064-1 and the BEGES-R).
Sequestered emissions or negative emissions
Absorption of GHGs present in the atmosphere, directly (carbon sinks owned by the Organisation) or indirectly (through financing of GHG sequestration projects).
Within the Bilan Carbone®: an Organisation can determine the GHG sinks and reservoirs that capture and concentrate GHGs to prevent their release into the atmosphere (forest growth, soil preservation, etc.). The Organisation shall not deduct these sequestered or negative emissions from total emissions, but may account for them and, if applicable, report them separately.
See definition of Pillar C.
To be distinguished from induced and avoided emissions
Operated and non-operated emissions
The accounted emissions may be characterised as:
So-called “operated” emissions are those directly generated by activities under the direct control of an Organisation. This includes emissions from the Organisation's installations, its vehicle fleet, leased and used assets, etc. These emissions are considered as "direct emissions" in the emission classification according to ISO 14064.
“Non-operated” emissions are those arising from activities not directly under the Organisation's control but associated with its activities indirectly. This may include emissions generated by suppliers, upstream and downstream transport activities, etc. These emissions are generally classified as "indirect emissions" in the emission classification.
These categories do not depend on the Organisation's ownership or leasing of emission sources, but on operation and use.
These elements do not directly concern the Bilan Carbone® since they do not influence calculation results. This characterisation only modifies how emissions will be aggregated in the different exports (BEGES-R, ISO 14064, GHG-P).
Supported emissions and non-supported emissions
The accounted emissions may be characterised as:
“Held” emissions refer to direct emissions from categories for which the Organisation owns the assets or equipment. These emissions are considered as "direct emissions" in the emission classification according to ISO 14064.
“Non-held supported” emissions are categories for which the Organisation does not own the assets or equipment but bears the costs. Supported emissions arise from activities financed by the Organisation. They therefore appear in accounting exports. These emissions are generally classified as "indirect emissions" in the emission classification.
“Non-held non-supported” emissions are categories for which the Organisation neither owns the assets or equipment nor bears the costs. These emissions are generally classified as "indirect emissions" in the emission classification.
These elements do not directly concern the Bilan Carbone® since they do not influence calculation results. These two characterisations only modifies how emissions will be aggregated in the different exports (BEGES-R, ISO 14064, GHG-P).
Equipment
Vehicle, tool, device or machine, fixed or mobile, which can be defined within a geographic boundary or an organisational unit.
Within a Bilan Carbone® and regardless of the targeted maturity level, 100% of the equipment and installations over which the Organisation exercises operational control, i.e. that it operates and uses, must be included in the organisational boundary. Any other choice must be justified.
Evaluation team
Person(s) responsible for verification and validation of the assessment. The entire evaluation team is trained in the Bilan Carbone® method. The evaluation team is led by an evaluation lead. They are trained and certified in assessment evaluation.
The whole team meets the following competencies and principles:
Evaluation expertise (training and certification)
Sectoral Bilan Carbone® expertise
Optional - Ability to provide limited assurance (participation in the process of an auditor or statutory auditor. This is not mandatory, but provides another level of evaluation attestation)
Integrity
Impartiality
Professional competence
Professional judgement
Establishment
An Organisation's establishment is generally designated by its SIRET (unique 14-digit identification code of an establishment of an Organisation with a SIREN number). The first 9 digits of the SIRET number are the SIREN number of the Organisation to which the establishment belongs.
Evaluation of an assessment
Process ensuring the reliability and transparency of assessments and their results. It also enables identifying blocking points and improvements between two assessments of an Organisation. The evaluation includes verification and validation of assessments.
The evaluation of the Bilan Carbone® follows the guidelines described in the Guide for the evaluation of a Bilan Carbone®. It is an optional procedure within the Bilan Carbone® approach.
Accounting exports
Chart of accounts and analytical plans are stable over time for a given Organisation without major structural modification.
At each accounting period, the Organisation records all revenues and costs of its activity in accounting entries (debit or credit allocation). This accounting is done in accounting journals (e.g. purchase journal, sales journal, bank journal…).
Different formats exist to export this accounting in its entirety:
The FEC (Fichier des Ecritures Comptables): standardised accounting file, notably used by the French administration to fiscally audit companies. It transcribes all accounting entries but does not include analytical entries.
The general ledger: standardised accounting file, its structure is nevertheless configurable to some extent to allow the Organisation to adapt its accounting to its needs. However, it does not allow analyses of the Organisation's activity because it follows general accounting, its final objective being the preparation of annual accounts (balance sheet, income statement and notes).
The analytical ledger: non-standardised accounting file, which nevertheless integrates mandatory fields. It includes all analytical allocations and allows an analytical analysis of accounting.
This definition refers to the guide of analytical carbon accounting.
F
GHG emission factor or removal factor (EF)
Coefficient relating activity data to GHG emissions or removals (standard NF-ISO 14064-1:2018).
An emission factor (EF) can come from databases, be developed by the Organisation, or be a coefficient known as “spend-based emission factor” (specific or non-specific).
Radiative forcing
It is the difference between the solar energy received by the Earth and the energy radiated to space, caused by a change in factors influencing the climate. This measure is expressed in watts per square metre (W/m²). This measure is currently positive, the received energy is greater than the returned energy: this is referred to as global warming.
G
Greenhouse gases (GHGs)
Gaseous constituents of the atmosphere, natural or anthropogenic, that absorb and emit radiation at specific wavelengths in the infrared radiation spectrum emitted by the Earth's surface, atmosphere and clouds. This property causes the greenhouse effect.
Water vapour (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4) and ozone (O3) are the natural greenhouse gases of the Earth's atmosphere.
There are a large number of anthropogenic greenhouse gases, such as halocarbons and other substances containing chlorine or bromine, grouped under the Montreal Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol includes CO2, N2O, CH4, SF6, NF3, HFCs and PFCs (adapted from the Fifth IPCC report – CLIMATE CHANGE 2013 The Physical Science Basis, p1455).
Governance
Framework aimed at defining how to control the different stages of the approach optimally.
Within the Bilan Carbone®, the Organisation shall establish leadership and internal governance allowing the completion of the approach and the attainment of associated criteria. The Organisation shall ensure that participants have the necessary methodological competencies and are trained in the use of the tools employed, as well as in the construction and implementation of transition plans.
H
Time horizon
Deadlines of a Objectives of the approach : generally short, medium or long term.
Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)
Hydrofluorocarbons are a family of gases composed only of hydrogen, carbon and fluorine atoms. They are GHGs included in the Kyoto Protocol.
I
Uncertainty
Parameter associated with the result of a quantification that characterises the dispersion of values that can reasonably be attributed to the measured quantity (standard NF-ISO 14064-1:2018).
Estimates and measurements inherently involve an error margin; the vast majority of scientific methods associate values called uncertainties with measurement or estimation results. These uncertainties allow deriving a 95% confidence interval, i.e. an interval [Value 1; Value 2] in which the true value of what is measured or estimated has a 95% chance of lying.
The Bilan Carbone method allows determining uncertainties qualitatively and quantitatively.
Inflation
Inflation corresponds to a general increase in the prices of goods and services in an economy.
Installation
Material element (building, road or other type of infrastructure) or production process which can be defined within a geographic boundary or an organisational unit.
Within a Bilan Carbone® and regardless of the targeted maturity level, 100% of the equipment and installations over which the Organisation exercises operational control, i.e. that it operates and uses, must be included in the organisational boundary. Any other choice must be justified.
Confidence interval
A confidence interval is an interval supposed to contain an unknown parameter that one seeks to estimate. A confidence interval is constructed by a method from data. The constructed interval may or may not contain the parameter's value. A level of confidence is often expressed as a percentage: the most common is the 95% level. This means that the method has a 95% chance of producing an interval containing the true value of the unknown parameter.
L
Deliverables
Set of documents, records and information obtained at each step of the approach, compiled for the Results presentation.
Log-normal distribution
A random variable X is said to follow a log-normal distribution with parameters and
if the variable
follows a normal distribution with mean
and variance
.
Normal distribution
A normal distribution is an absolutely continuous probability distribution that depends on two parameters: its mean, a real number denoted μ, and its standard deviation, a positive real number denoted σ. The probability density of the normal distribution with mean μ and standard deviation σ is given by:
.
The curve of this density is called the Gaussian curve or bell curve, among others. It is the best-known representation of these distributions.
M
Data collection matrix
Summary of all activity data and emission factors used during the accounting process, serving as the Organisation's documentation (sources, assumptions, uncertainties, value and unit).
Stakeholder engagement
Stakeholder engagement here refers to all processes that will lead the Organisation to convey the right messages to the right targets. It continues continuously throughout the Bilan Carbone® approach.
To achieve Stakeholder engagement, the Bilan Carbone® approach involves Outreach the stakes to raise awareness, Empowerment the Stakeholders, to consult, then reported and communicate the results.
N
Carbon neutrality
The Paris Agreements aim to achieve carbon neutrality at theglobal level by 2050. Concretely, this means that human emissions are compensated by equivalent absorptions, so that the net impact on the climate is zero.
🔎 The Bilan Carbone® method is aligned with theADEME opinion on carbon neutrality, which invites not to aim for arithmetic carbon neutrality at the scale of an Organisation, but to prioritise decarbonisation levers within the Organisation's boundary (induced emissions).
O
Objectives of the approach
The Bilan Carbone® approach has three main objectives:
Stakeholder engagement of the Organisation's internal and external Stakeholders in a transition approach, through awareness raising, Empowerment, coconstruction and Reporting and communication of the transformations enabled by the transition plan.
To account for as rigorously and exhaustively as possible the Organisation's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, whether direct or indirect, covering the Organisation's responsibilities and dependencies boundaries.
To develop a transition plan and action plan for reducing GHG emissions and the Organisation's vulnerabilities that is ambitious, manageable, operational, and coherent with the emission accounting.
Objectives of the transition plan
Results the Organisation intends to achieve over a given period, thanks to its transition plan.
Within the Bilan Carbone® approach, they aim to reduce GHG emissions and enable the Organisation to become more resilient. They are set at multiple time horizons : short, medium or long term. They are consistent with the Organisation's overall objectives and integrated into its overall strategy.
OCCF
Observatory of Carbon Accounting in France.
🔗 More information in the bibliography.
Climate shadow
See Bibliography.
Organisation
Person or group of persons with a role with the responsibilities, authority and relationships enabling it to achieve its objectives (source ISO 14064-1).
Entity constituted as a capital company or having another status, private or public law, which has its own administrative and functional structure. (Example: company, association, local authority, public establishment, company, firm, authority, institution, or part or combination of the previous entities).
Overshoot
Overshoot is the exceedance of the carbon budget.
It can be calculated at the level of an Organisation, for example if actual emissions do not follow the initially chosen pathway, the allocated carbon budget is exceeded.
P
Stakeholders
Stakeholders around the Organisation can be distributed as follows. They will be solicited in distinct phases of Stakeholder engagement.
Project team, internal leads
Management
Other internal collaborators (employees, staff, volunteers)
Upstream external Stakeholders (suppliers)
Downstream external Stakeholders (clients)
Other external Stakeholders (financial and technical partners, local actors, professional federations, or other partners on strategic topics for the Organisation such as education, innovation, development).
Perfluorocarbons (PFCs)
Perfluorocarbons are a family of gases composed only of carbon and fluorine atoms. They are GHGs included in the Kyoto Protocol.
Reporting boundary
Notion specific to a regulatory carbon accounting exercise of an Organisation. It concerns the emissions contained in the operational boundary that will actually be accounted for in the Bilan Carbone® exercise. It can therefore be part of the operational boundary.
Operational boundary
Set of emission sources taken into account during an Organisation's carbon accounting exercise as well as their allocation by emission category.
Organisational boundary
Set of sites, installations and equipment taken into account during the Organisation's carbon accounting exercise.
Legal entity
Organisation with legal personality, identified by a SIREN number. Notion specific to a regulatory carbon accounting exercise of an Organisation.
When the Bilan Carbone® is used for regulatory reporting, its organisational boundary shall be that of a Legal entity subject to the applicable regulation.
Pillar A
See definition of induced emissions.
To contribute to the global reduction of emissions, an Organisation shall reduce its own direct and indirect emissions (Pillar A) to the levels required by decarbonisation scenarios compatible with the Paris Agreement.
Except in exceptional cases, Pillar A “reduction of the Organisation's emissions” is priority relative to the other two pillars B and C, due to its role in the Organisation's dependence on a fossil-fuel based system, and its influence on the risks and opportunities the Organisation will have to integrate into its strategy.
The Bilan Carbone® quantifies and acts on Pillar A.
Pillar B
See definition of avoided emissions.
To contribute to the global reduction of emissions, an Organisation shall reduce the emissions of other (Pillar B). It then assesses and increases its contributions to third parties' decarbonisation:
Either through its distributed or sold products and services which substitute a more carbon-intensive solution at end customers
Or through financing emission reduction projects outside its value chain (purchase of certified emission reductions, direct equity stakes in low-carbon projects, low-carbon energy contracts under certain conditions, etc.)
The Bilan Carbone® methodology does not address avoided emissions.
Pillar C
See definition of sequestered or negative emissions.
To contribute to the global increase of carbon sequestration, the Organisation shall preserve and increase carbon sinks within or outside its value chain (Pillar C). It assesses its contributions to the preservation and increase of global natural and technological carbon sinks:
Either within its value chain, by developing its own carbon sinks (direct absorptions) or upstream (in its supply chain) and downstream (within clients or end users)
Or outside its value chain, through its financing of sequestration projects (purchase of certified carbon sequestration, direct equity stakes in projects, etc.)
The Bilan Carbone® methodology does not address negative emissions.
General Carbon Plan (PCG)
General Carbon Plan
🔗 More information in the bibliography.
Action plan
Set of concrete envisaged actions enabling achievement of the transition plan objectives. The action plan is established in the short term (until the next assessment), even if some actions extend to the medium or long term. It is the operational translation of the transition plan and the Organisation's low-carbon transition strategy.
Transition Plan
A transition plan defines the set of actions and the means envisaged for reducing emissions related to an Organisation's activities, and the evolution of these activities to make them compatible with a low-carbon world respecting the Paris Agreement. (source ADEME).
Project lead
Person driving the development of the approach. Notion assimilated in the Bilan Carbone® to the coordinator or lead of the approach.
An action lead designates the person driving and responsible for the implementation of a specific action.
Emission category
Aggregation 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. From correspondence links are possible.
Global Warming Potential (GWP)
Index based on the radiative properties of GHGs, measuring the radiative forcing following a pulse emission of one unit mass of a given GHG into the current atmosphere integrated over a chosen time period, relative to that of carbon dioxide (CO2) (source: NF- ISO 14064-1:2018).
GHG emissions profile
Aggregation of the quantified GHG emission results for all emission sources included within the organisation's boundaries.
The emissions profile also denotes the breakdown of quantified emissions according to a given nomenclature (for example according to the emission categories of the Bilan Carbone®).
Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and which complements the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), whose participating countries have met once a year since 1995. It notably defines the different GHGs to be taken into account for these reductions:
Carbon dioxide, CO₂
Methane, CH₄
Nitrous oxide, N₂O
Sulphur hexafluoride, SF₆
The hydrofluorocarbons, HFCs
The perfluorocarbons, PFCs
R
RACI
RACI is the acronym for:
R: Executor (Responsible) – The person who does the work to complete the task. These are the individuals who actually carry out the work or perform the task.
A: Approver (Accountable) – The person who is accountable for the task. This person must approve or validate the completed work and ensure that the objectives are met.
C: Consulted (Consulted) – The people who provide advice, feedback or information necessary to accomplish the task. They are often experts or key stakeholders.
I: Informed (Informed) – The people who must be kept informed of the progress or results of the task. They do not have an active role in carrying out the task, but need to know its status or outcomes.
Spend-based emission factors
An emission factor presented as values in kgCO₂e/k€ spent. These EFs are derived from averages across many products and are therefore associated with very high uncertainties.
Specific spend-based emission factors
A spend-based ratio created by the organisation, for example from the carbon accounting of its stakeholders (suppliers, ...).
Framework
Here denotes other methods, standards and carbon accounting regulations or low-carbon transition approaches.
French regulation on greenhouse gas emissions reporting (Regulatory GHG Assessment or BEGES-R)
A mechanism requiring organisations to carry out and regularly upload an assessment on a public platform.
🔗For more information on BEGES-R, refer to the Bibliography.
Empowerment
This is a phase of Stakeholder engagement in the sense of Bilan Carbone®:
The main challenge of empowerment is to give everyone a role in the approach. To enable stakeholders to become aware that every degree matters, every action counts and therefore every employee matters in the implementation of these actions. For the organisation to become aware that this concerns sustainability. New responsibilities will emerge from the approach and will highlight existing roles by taking into account an essential component linked to the sustainability of the activity.
Objective : Involve and enable each stakeholder to get moving and take action.
Indicator : Level of participation in the approach and level of taking action.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
The objective of CSR is to promote sustainable and ethical practices within all organisations, taking into account the economic, social and environmental impacts of their activities. CSR practices can include ethical governance, respect for human rights, transparency, environmental impact, fair working practices, etc.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a broader concept that encompasses all forms of organisations, not just Corporate Social Responsibility of Companies (CSR). This includes public administrations, NGOs, associations, and other types of organisations.
Results presentation and reporting or results report
Three results reports are framed by the Bilan Carbone® approach.
Results presentation and communication
This is a phase of Stakeholder engagement in the sense of Bilan Carbone®:
The main challenge of results presentation and communication is to enable appropriation of the results and actions by the various concerned stakeholders. To link global issues, local issues, the organisation's impacts, the role of stakeholders in these impacts, the resulting actions, and the role of stakeholders in the success of these actions.
Objective : Make this approach an initiative that goes beyond the project team to reach the other concerned stakeholders (primarily internal employees) through the implementation of actions, in a logic of cross-functionality, togetherness, reputation and exemplariness.
Indicator : Level of knowledge and understanding of the results (impacts and actions)
Transition risks and opportunities
Transition risks, linked to changes in our societies and economic models, are divided into several categories:
Regulatory risks
Image and reputation risks
Market and technology risks
The opportunities that ensure the organisation a place in the low-carbon world of tomorrow are of several types:
Reduction in resource consumption
Reduction of GHG emissions
Development of new products and services and innovations
Regulatory/financial incentives
Communication and image
Adaptation
Physical risks
Physical risks, directly linked to climate change and the consequences it generates, are divided into several categories:
Risks related to natural disasters and extreme climatic events becoming more frequent and/or intense
Risks related to gradual changes in the climate.
S
Awareness and popularization
This is a phase of Stakeholder engagement in the sense of Bilan Carbone®:
The main challenge of awareness-raising and popularisation of the issues is to understand in order to act : strengthen the understanding of essential information around energy and climate issues, and unite around the approach to ensure better integration of the transition plan.
Objective : Create the necessary groundwork for a proper understanding of the issues, acceptance of change and future actions to be undertaken, and enable the organisation to identify the risks and opportunities associated with the ecological transition.
Indicator : Level of knowledge and understanding of the issues.
Significance
🔎 The notion of significance stems from theISO 14064-1 and is taken up within the BEGES-R.
It is accepted that some sources of indirect GHG emissions, within the operational boundary of an organisation, do not contribute significantly to the total indirect emissions. The notion of significance can be useful for setting priorities during accounting, when choosing actions or when monitoring results. For an emission to be said significant emission, it must meet at least one of the significance criteria :
Materiality criterion : Indirect emission categories estimated as substantial from a quantitative viewpoint should be retained. A minimum materiality threshold to consider is expressed as a percentage. It establishes the minimum proportion of indirect emissions of the operational boundary to include in the reporting boundary. The materiality threshold must not be below 80%. Note that ISO 14064-1 designates the same notion by importance criterion the same notion.
Level of influence and levers for action : the extent to which the entity can monitor and reduce emissions and removals (for example, energy efficiency, eco-design, customer engagement, terms of reference).
Strategic importance and vulnerability according to a risk or opportunity approach: concerns indirect emissions or removals that contribute to the entity's exposure to risks (for example, risks associated with climate change such as financial risks, regulatory risks, supply chain risks, product and customer risks, litigation risks, reputational damage risks) or to its commercial opportunities (new market or new business model, for example).
Sector-specific guidance : GHG emissions deemed significant for the sector concerned, according to sector-specific guidance.
Outsourcing : indirect emissions and removals resulting from outsourced activities that are generally core activities.
Staff engagement : indirect emissions likely to motivate employees to reduce their emissions or that build team spirit around climate change.
GHG source or emission source
Physical unit or process emitting a GHG into the atmosphere (standard NF-ISO 14064-1:2018).
Low-carbon strategy or transition strategy
The organisation's low-carbon transition strategy details the means envisaged to achieve the organisation's objectives while preserving, and ideally improving, its sustainability. The strategy covers capital investments, intangible investments (such as R&D or skills), management and policy with all its stakeholders (employees, but also suppliers, customers). Within the Bilan Carbone® framework, the transition plan will lead the organisation to evolve its operating model. As it progresses along the maturity pathway, the organisation will be led to reflect on the relevance of its activities, products and services in a low-carbon world.
GHG removals
Reduction or removal of GHGs from the atmosphere, under the control of the organisation, by GHG sinks (adapted from the standard NF-ISO 14064-1:2018).
T
Contrails
At high altitude, the water vapour emitted by aircraft engines can condense into fine ice particles, forming what are called contrails or "vapour trails". These trails can impact the climate by altering the reflection of solar radiation (albedo) and by contributing to the formation of artificial clouds.
In addition to CO2 emitted from fuel production and combustion, aircraft can affect the climate through other emissions and atmospheric processes, such as water vapour (H2O), nitrogen oxides (NOx), particles (aerosols) of sulphate and soot, or contrails. For the latter, although their contribution to the total climate impact of aviation at the global scale (assessed on the basis of radiative forcing) is estimated at a minimum of 50%, there remain significant uncertainties about their formation conditions per flight (dependent on altitude and various meteorological factors).
(Source Base Empreinte).
Transition pathway
Two types of trajectory exist:
The top-down trajectory (descending approach) is a trajectory defined macroscopically, setting medium- and long-term reduction targets. They can, for example, be set by drawing inspiration from reference trajectories (which are also top-down) provided by the SNBC, SBTi, ACT, among others...
The bottom-up trajectory (ascending approach) is built from the GHG profile (the organisation's current situation) and the reduction potentials of actions, thus projecting an achievable trajectory (trend and evolution of emissions) that justifies the credibility of the targets.
Within the Bilan Carbone® framework, the top-down trajectory is used as a tool to help define the objectives. Subsequently, the transition pathway (bottom-up) is defined to validate the relevance of the actions and their reduction potentials.
Triple bottom line (TBL or 3BL)
An accounting method that takes into account three main dimensions: economic, environmental and social. It aims to assess and report an organisation's performance not only in financial terms but also in terms of environmental impact and social contributions. This holistic approach allows a better understanding of the overall effects of an organisation's activities on society and the planet.
Carbon accounting therefore provides indicators to be included in this triple bottom line.
V
Validation
Assessment of effects that have not yet occurred, concerning the evaluated assessment. For example: validation of the transition plan. Included in the process ofevaluation.
Concept originating from theISO 17029 and ISO 14069.
Verification
Assessment of effects that have already occurred, within the evaluated assessment. For example: verification of the data used when calculating the GHG profile, verification of the results obtained, verification of uncertainties, among others. Included in the process ofevaluation.
Concept originating from theISO 17029 and ISO 14069.
Transition vision
It represents the way in which the organisation projects its place in a low-carbon world (long term, up to 2050). It does not require a detailed description within the Bilan Carbone® framework, but it allows projection of the organisation's future climate strategy.
Vulnerability or Climate Vulnerability
According to the IPCC report, climate risk is a combination of three factors: a "climate hazard" factor (the potential impact), an "exposure" factor (the probability of occurrence), and a "vulnerability" factor to that hazard (the severity).
Climate vulnerability is a key concept in risk assessment. It expresses the propensity of a study subject to be impacted by a climate hazard. It is the most difficult variable to estimate as it strongly depends on the company studied: its level of sensitivity to hazards and its adaptive capacity.
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