Annex 1 - Main accounting principles of Bilan Carbone®
What are the fundamental principles to be respected by the accounting of Bilan Carbone®?
The Bilan Carbone® method is based on accounting principles. The annex presents these generic rules and principles for each of the 10 categories of the Bilan Carbone®.
The Bilan Carbone® Organisation is generic. It applies to any organisation, whatever its size, sector of activity or profile.
The Bilan Carbone® method is not intended to spell out particular cases or conventions specific to different sectors or organisation profiles.
🔎 Several complementary resources serve as practical guides for the implementation of the principles formulated here by the Bilan Carbone® method (General Carbon Plan, ADEME Sectoral Guides). These resources notably provide common emission factors, practical advice or assumptions in the absence of certain data, average lifetimes, etc.
The definitions of the categories, the emission sources they include, and the main associated accounting principles are detailed below:
Energy
This category covers:
The Energy category therefore groups energy consumptions from so-called “stationary” sources: premises, machines, etc. The emissions associated with these energy consumptions of goods or premises used by the organisation, must be taken into account, whether it is owner or tenant.
The energy consumption of vehicles or other “mobile” sources (fossil fuels, organic fuels, electricity) are normally not to be included in the Energy category, but in the categories Freight and Transport.
Hydrocarbons are only taken into account to the extent that they are burned. If they are used as feedstock (for example petroleum products in petrochemistry), they should not be included here but in the categories Inputs.
For energy consumption from a distribution network (electricity and gas), the literature presents two different ways to assess GHG emissions:
The location-based approach which conforms to the physical reality of the distribution network, a unique network shared by all in which it is not possible to distinguish an electron from renewable energy from an electron from a thermal or nuclear plant, or a methane molecule from natural gas (i.e. fossil) from one from methanisation (biogas). Therefore, in all cases the network emission factor must be used (for gas this is the EF “natural gas” of the Base Empreinte® which actually contains a very small proportion of biogas) GC: Parenthesis to delete or keep ?.
The market-based approach which conforms to contractual offers (green electricity contracts, biogas contracts, ...) and therefore allows the application of the supplier-specific emission factor, which is generally different from that of the network.
Only the location-based approach is compliant with the Bilan Carbone® method. However, Bilan Carbone® tools may offer both approaches in order to export results in GHG Protocol or CSRD format, for which it is required to indicate both location-based and market-based emissions. Green electricity or biogas contracts can also be highlighted by accounting separately for avoided emissions (subscription to this type of contract sometimes allowing, under certain conditions, the decarbonisation of networks). The organisation shall not deduct these avoided emissions from total emissions, but may account for them and, where appropriate, report them separately.
⏳[WIP] ABC and its community will position themselves in more detail on the notion of avoided emissions soon.
In the case where the organisation produces energy, three cases must be distinguished:
Energy is generated from a fuel produced within the organisation (plastic waste, wood, ...). In this case, it must avoid any double counting within the assessment. For fossil or organic fuels, the organisation should only record emissions related to the combustion of these fuels in the appropriate subcategories, the upstream emissions already being accounted for elsewhere in the assessment.
Energy is generated from a fuel not produced by the organisation. In this case, the risk of double counting does not exist. For fossil or organic fuels, the organisation should report emissions related to theupstream and the combustion of these fuels in the appropriate subcategories.
Energy is generated from a renewable or nuclear source installed on the organisation's site. In this case, no emissions related to the combustion are generated. However, theupstream of this energy production, namely the installation of the source and the manufacture of the equipment, must be taken into account. This consideration can be made either in the Energy category or in the Fixed assets (according to the organisation's logic), which avoids double counting.
If part of the electricity produced by the organisation is intended for direct self-consumption (individual self-consumption or collective self-consumption), without using the national grid, it may be accounted for in the Bilan Carbone® on the basis of the LCA content of the different production means deployed.
If part of the electricity produced by the organisation is intended to be sold, it remains mandatory to take into account all the emissions mentioned above, because the Bilan Carbone® is intended to account for all emissions generated by the organisation. However, the organisation may value this sold energy production by accounting separately for avoided emissions. The organisation shall not deduct these avoided emissions from total emissions, but may account for them and, where appropriate, report them separately.
⏳[WIP] ABC and its community will position themselves in more detail on the notion of avoided emissions soon.
Other direct emissions
This category covers so-called “non-energy” direct emissions, that is all direct GHG emissions that are not related to the use ofenergy :
Across all these subcategories, all GHGs must be taken into account, including those not considered under the Kyoto Protocol. These emissions are common within the Industrial Processes, Refrigeration Production and Other Direct GHG Emissions subcategories. The organisation must therefore be particularly careful to include these GHGs within its Bilan Carbone®. Several examples (non-exhaustive) of the GHGs concerned depending on the processes:
For the subcategory “Direct GHG emissions related to agriculture”, the fermentation of agricultural waste is not to be taken into account: this is indeed a simple return to the atmosphere of CO₂ that was recently captured during plant photosynthesis.
For the subcategory “Direct GHG emissions related to refrigeration production”, only refrigerant fluid leaks that occur during the organisation's use are to be taken into account. Leaks that occur at the equipment end-of-life are to be taken into account in the Direct waste. In the case where the organisation manufactures equipment for which these leaks occur, they would be accounted for in the categories Use and End of life. The energy consumption necessary for refrigeration production is by definition in the category Energy.
For the subcategory “Direct GHG emissions related to land-use change”:
For a land-use change leading to an instantaneous release of GHGs, the organisation shall take into account the entire associated release, without amortisation, in the reporting year. For changes whose rate is slower (forest to cropland for example), the time to return to equilibrium depends on pedological and climatic conditions. This duration is a local, regional or national value if possible. Otherwise, the stock variation is by convention considered to occur over 20 years (default value defined by the UNFCCC). The entirety of this impact must be taken into account in the reporting year during which this change occurs. In reality, GHGs will be released over 20 years until reaching a new equilibrium. Care must be taken not to double-count this land-use change in the case of theFixed asset of a construction.
Land-use changes leading to GHG sequestration must in no circumstances be taken into account within the Bilan Carbone®. However, they may be estimated by accounting separately for sequestered emissions. The organisation shall not deduct these sequestered emissions from total emissions, but may account for them and, where appropriate, report them separately.
⏳[WIP] ABC and its community will position themselves in more detail on the notion of sequestered emissions soon.
Inputs: goods and materials
This category covers:
This category covers all flows of goods and materials entering the organisation, whether to be consumed on site (and potentially found in its Waste), or to be incorporated into the organisation's production. The only goods not to be taken into account in this category are those that will fall under the category Fixed assets.
This category does not only include raw materials, but also semi-finished products or manufactured products “incorporated” into the organisation's activities. In particular, it covers materials used by the activity to be incorporated into its own production, for example:
Base materials (metals, plastics, glass, etc.) for a manufacturer of manufactured objects
Agricultural products in the case of agri-food companies, or for a restaurant (including a company canteen)
Raw materials and reagents in the case of chemical companies
Materials necessary to package incoming materials.
In the case of a commercial activity, upstream emissions, namely the manufacturing of the products sold, are therefore to be included in this category “Inputs: goods and materials”. However, the emissions associated with theUse and the End of life use of these products (or services) sold are so-called “downstream” categories.
An organisation that acquires goods or materials from recycling takes into account the impact of the recycling process (and therefore the regeneration of the material) within this category.
The consumption of meals by the organisation's employees during the activity period is to be taken into account within this category, even if the employees consume these meals outside the organisation.
Goods and materials must be accounted for whether they are purchased, rented or donated. In the particular case where inputs are recovered by the organisation although they were not intended for any use (expired foodstuffs, clothing, etc.), and provided that it can justify this, the organisation will not take into account the GHG emissions associated with the production of these inputs. However, the GHG emissions associated with the rest of the supply chain (distribution in particular) must always be taken into account. Note, for the reuse of capital goods, refer to the category " Fixed assets " (digital, buildings, vehicles, machines, furniture, …).
Regarding the subcategory “Goods and materials in a spend-based approach”, in the case where the organisation uses spend-based ratios, it may adjust these spend-based ratios according to theinflation that applies to its purchases or leasing of goods and services.
The subcategory “Material intended for packaging” of sold or distributed products allows visualisation of the overall contribution of the “waste by destination” that these packagings represent, although they are not discarded directly by the entity that puts them into circulation. Emissions accounted for in this subcategory are related to the production of plastics, paper, metals, etc. necessary for the packaging. Emissions related to the End of life end-of-life These individualised subcategories may be.
aggregated It is rare that the category "Inputs: goods and materials" does not require investigation outside the organisation to obtain some specific emission factors. This may require asking certain suppliers to do their own GHG reporting and transmit it to the organisation. In the absence of real, physical or customised information, a subcategory is nonetheless dedicated to materials for which emission factors in spend-based ratios are used. All limits mentioned in the Bilan Carbone® method
apply to this subcategory.
This category covers:
Emissions related to the various services received by the organisation accounted for via emission factors in spend-based ratios
Tertiary services (excluding transport) consumed by the organisation may for example include:
IT services
Telecommunication services
Maintenance, upkeep, cleaning
Banking services
Training
Advertising
Fees of all kinds (lawyers, accountants, etc.) Regarding digital, this category covers the organisation's “digital uses” that involve an indirect impact (external servers, data processing and storage, data transmission over networks, etc.). Other digital impacts are the subject of.
different subcategoriesinflation that applies to its purchases or leasing of goods and services.
In the case where the organisation uses spend-based ratios, it may adjust these spend-based ratios according to theIt is rare that the category "Inputs: services" does not require investigation outside the organisation to obtain some specific emission factors. This may require asking some suppliers to do their own GHG reporting and to transmit it to the organisation. The use of the supplier's Bilan Carbone® Organisation is allocated pro rata to the organisation's expenditures and the supplier's turnover (turnover is representative if the supplier's activity is homogeneous). It thus allows the construction of a so-called".
specific ratio It is rare that the category "Inputs: goods and materials" does not require investigation outside the organisation to obtain some specific emission factors. This may require asking certain suppliers to do their own GHG reporting and transmit it to the organisation. In the absence of real, physical or customised information, a subcategory is nonetheless dedicated to materials for which emission factors in spend-based ratios are used. All limits mentioned in the Bilan Carbone® method
Freight
This category covers:
Emissions related to outgoing freight from the organisation
This category covers all freight transports carried out on behalf of the organisation, regardless of ownership of the means of transport, the distinction being made by nature of trip. It includes:
Transport of products coming from outside and delivered within the organisational boundary (transport of purchases from suppliers to the organisation, for example). organisational boundary
So-called internal transports, where the departure and arrival points are part of the
Transport of products that leave the organisation and are shipped “elsewhere” (to customers, users, or suppliers in some very particular cases) Regulatory GHG Assessment“Incoming freight” and “outgoing freight” should not be confused with the denominations “upstream freight” and “downstream freight” from the . These notions are distinct: Within the Bilan Carbone®, the types of freight are distinguished according to the organisational boundary, whereas in the Regulatory GHG Assessment, upstream freight corresponds to freight whose costs are borne by the organisation, and downstream freight corresponds to freight whose costs are not borne by the organisation. Correspondence links
are possible between these two nomenclatures.
The category takes into account road, air, maritime, inland waterway and rail transports. It takes into account all criteria that strongly influence emissions, including: distance, trip duration, vehicle load factor, etc. The organisation must consider the outbound trip and the empty return rate on the return trip. In the case of air transport, the organisation must by default take into account the formation ofcontrails
. If not taken into account, the organisation must justify it, for example by proving that contrails do not form on the route in question (their formation being dependent on altitude and various meteorological factors).FreightIn the case where transport is carried out via vehicles owned by the organisation, it may at its choice account for the emissions associated with the vehicle manufacture in the categories "Fixed assets" or "
Transport
This category covers:
Emissions related to visitors' travel (customers, users, beneficiaries, tourists, ...)
This category takes into account road, air, maritime, inland waterway and rail transports.
The subcategory Commuting covers all journeys to go to work. It therefore, in the broad sense, includes journeys made from the current place of residence to the place of work and the associated return, not forgetting possible trips related to the lunch break.
The Visitors travel subcategory covers at minimum the following cases and any other similar case:
Customers' travel to a shop or company
Visits for professional reasons (suppliers, certifiers, auditors, etc.) or similar (job candidates)
Travel of the organisation's users
Travel of publics, tourists and visitors hosted by the organisation
Visits conducted as part of the organisation's public relations policy
The category takes into account road, air, maritime, inland waterway and rail transports. It takes into account all criteria that strongly influence emissions, including: distance, trip duration, vehicle load factor, etc. The organisation must consider the outbound trip and the empty return rate on the return trip. In the case of air transport, the organisation must by default take into account the formation ofcontrails
If the organisation can prove that some visitor trips are not made exclusively for an activity within its operational boundary, or are made for an entirely different reason, the participation in the said activity being then a windfall effect, it may use allocation rules it defines in order to account for only a share of these trips. Transport or Fixed assetsIn the case where transport is carried out via vehicles owned by the organisation, it may at its choice account for the emissions associated with the vehicle manufacture in the categories
Direct waste
, taking care not to double-count.
Emissions related to wastewater (including treatment impact)
This category includes waste in all its forms (solid, liquid or gaseous). The origin of the waste varies (consumables after use, production waste and residues, purchase packaging, staff restaurant, etc.). The subcategories break down waste by waste category which implies an internal monitoring policy.
Waste treatments can classically lead to GHG emissions:
Either through fermentation of organic waste put in landfill or in biological treatment centres (anaerobic digestion plant or composting centre)
Or through the combustion of plastics (plastic is often derived from fossil energies, such as oil or processed gas).Or through the material regeneration processes in the case of recycling ()
see below
In all cases, to these emissions are added emissions related to the operation of the waste management process (waste collection, buildings for storage, etc.).
For this category, it will most often be necessary to question the waste managers who handle these processes.
For information, hazardous waste (for example Special Industrial Waste - SIW - or Healthcare Activity Waste - HAW) do not cause emissions because of their toxicity, but because of the amount of fossil energy used for their transport, containment, storage or treatment. Freight Most emission factors used for waste include the collection of these wastes. If this collection has already been accounted for within the
category by the organisation, double counting should be avoided here.
Focus on waste recycling
From the greenhouse gas emissions point of view, recycling generates on the one hand emissions related to its new transformation into usable material (for example metal melting), and on the other hand allows avoided emissions for the manufacture of the same new or lowly recycled material.
In the case of waste treatment by recycling, the waste emitter includes the impacts of collection & operation of the sorting centre. The waste emitter does not include the impact of the material regeneration (recycling) process. With this method, waste directed to the recycling stream is not accounted for as waste, but as a secondary supply flow of raw material.
It is the organisation that organises this recycling, as well as organisations that consume recycled material (in their Inputs - goods and materials), that must include the material regeneration phase. If the organisation's recycled waste is subsequently used as an input by the same organisation, there is then no double counting of the recycling process.
Care should be taken with the quantity of waste actually recycled, based on declarations from the organisation recycling the waste, or failing that on national or local statistics. The 🔎 Bilan Carbone® and the GHG Protocol are aligned on this methodological allocation of recycling.Conversely the ISO 14064-1 standard and the Regulatory GHG Assessment attribute the impact of this recycling to the waste emitter, in the same way as other treatment modes. These two types of exports
are provided for and are explained pedagogically. WasteIt is essential to accompany the analysis of the results with an educational explanation, presenting not only the impacts of the category
, but also quantifying their repercussions on the organisation's entire value chain.
Impact of recycling: Sending a waste to recycling does not mean it no longer emits greenhouse gases. Their quantification allows estimation of the impacts related to the material regeneration. This perspective reminder highlights that the best strategy remains reducing waste production (and material losses) at source.
Avoided emissions by using recycled material: residual and recycled wastes allow other actors to use recycled material instead of virgin material, thus avoiding certain emissions associated with extraction and transformation of primary resources. avoided emissions⏳[WIP] ABC and its community will deepen the methodology related to
Fixed assets
. At this stage, these emissions must not be deducted from the organisation's total emissions, but they may be accounted for separately and reported if necessary.
The Fixed assets category concernspurchase or lease long-term of these assets.
In the case of infrastructures, this generally concerns any construction other than a building (roads, car park, etc.).
In the case of vehicles, if the accounting carried out within the category Transport include a component dedicated to the manufacture of the vehicle, the organisation shall ensure not to double count these emissions, which may be accounted for either within the “Fixed assets” category or “Transport” as appropriate.
When the organisation is a large entity that manages an annual flow of renewal or increase of its fixed assets, it is recommended to treat this category as an annual flow rather than as depreciation of the existing stock. This choice will then be most relevant to define emission reduction actions, based on recurring annual purchases. This is particularly relevant for organisations in property development or construction, for car dealerships, etc.
Finally, intangible emissions (brands, concessions, licences, etc.) shall not be amortised.
Depreciation period:
By convention in the method, the emissions from manufacturing these assets are allocated over a certain period, which shall be the theoretical lifetime of the asset within the organisation. This duration is either estimated at purchase or at the start of use of the asset (by the manufacturer, via an LCA, ...), or it is a default value that differs according to the type of asset. The theoretical lifetime within the organisation (planned period of use) may differ from the physical lifetime. For example, an organisation that renews its vehicle fleet every 3 years.
This duration is called the depreciation period, and must be indicated within the Bilan Carbone®. It is said that the emissions are subject to depreciation, or that the asset is capitalised. These emissions must be accounted for every year (when the organisation produces an assessment), until the end of the asset's depreciation period, after which the asset is considered physically “depreciated” and no further emissions shall be accounted for. This allocation is made to make emission profiles, produced at successive intervals, comparable with each other.
Period and duration of consideration in the assessment:
If the organisation no longer uses the depreciated asset, and that asset is transferred to another user (premises, vehicles, furniture still in good condition, ...), the organisation shall no longer account for the associated emissions. If the asset is not reused, the organisation shall continue to account for these emissions.
If the organisation acquires an asset already partly depreciated (moving into built premises, acquisition of refurbished digital equipment, reuse, ...), it shall only account for the emissions still to be depreciated over the remaining depreciation period of the asset. Where the organisation does not know the previous period of use, the Bilan Carbone® method recommends using conservative estimates (i.e. relatively short previous use durations). If the asset is considered depreciated, the manufacturing-related emissions are no longer to be capitalised (this does not exclude any emissions related to sourcing, renovation, repair, etc.).
End of life
This category covers all emissions related to the future end-of-life of products that have been sold or distributed during the temporal boundary:
This will involve calculating the quantity of GHG that all products/services supplied or distributed during the reporting year (or if not available during the temporal boundary of the assessment) will emit at the end of their life. For example, if you produce refrigerators at 5,000 units per year, each unit emitting 500 grams of gas at end of life, the emissions attributable to the end of life of your annual production are: 5,000 × 0.5 = 2,500 kilograms, i.e. 2.5 tonnes of gas per year.
At its “end of life”, a product or service can generate emissions: fermentation from carrot peelings sent to landfill, CO2 emissions from a plastic toy sent to incineration, etc. The organisation may not know with certainty the end of life of the products (goods or services) distributed during the reporting year (or if not available during the temporal boundary of the assessment). It will then be necessary to define end-of-life scenarios: either by estimating the energy required for end-of-life treatment (sub-category “Energy consumption at end of life”), or by considering the treatment channels for the materials used in the distributed products, and their mixes in the territories of distribution (sub-categories “Waste treatment at end of life” and “Packaging treatment at end of life”).
The End-of-life category does not concern products or services whose very use implies destruction: a candle, a litre of fuel, a firework rocket, ... In such cases, the emissions fall under the Use.
The sub-category “Packaging treatment at end of life” for products sold or distributed allows visualisation of the overall contribution of “waste by destination” that these future packaging, although these are not discarded directly by the entity that places them on the market. The emissions accounted for in this sub-category are linked to the end of life of these packagings (which will occur almost immediately after their placing on the market). Emissions related to the production of plastics, paper, metals, etc. necessary for the packaging are considered in the sub-category Material destined for packaging. These individualised sub-categories can be These individualised subcategories may be.
Use & Dependence
This category covers:
Once a product (good or service) is with the customer or user, its use can generate GHG emissions.
Emissions from all that has been sold or distributed by the organisation during the reporting year (or if not available during the temporal boundary of the assessment) are accounted for over their estimated operating lifetime. Average values of energy consumption and leaks related to product use (goods and services) are required, as well as their average lifetime.
These emissions can easily become dominant compared with those of other categories of the Bilan Carbone®.
Many scenarios are concerned, for example:
Car sales imply accounting for petrol, possibly refrigerant leaks for air conditioning, and emissions associated with maintenance services (manufacture and transport of spare parts, heating of premises used for this function, etc.), over the average mileage of the vehicle model;
Electricity consumption for household appliances (obviously very variable depending on the country of use);
Gas combustion for an entire dwelling (for a housing developer), or for a cooker (gas consumed over the average lifetime of a cooker);
Emissions from journeys if the organisation finances exchange scholarships between countries (which often amounts to financing travel, notably air travel).
Future refrigerant leaks if the organisation sells air-conditioning systems;
N₂O emissions if the organisation produces nitrogenous fertilisers;
Acetylene combustion if the organisation sells blowtorches;
Maintenance of the cold chain if the organisation sells frozen goods;
Car travel if the organisation sells products in a hypermarket.
Other examples are provided below.
For use of sold or distributed physical goods, it is therefore a question of accounting for the production of energy and material consumed.
For use of sold or distributed services, an approach based on the impact at the final customer can be adopted by using the carbon intensity of the final product.
Accounting for the Use category does not require allocation rules: however, such allocations (fuel use by vehicles equipped with headlights, pro rata to headlight weight) can be operationally relevant to provide indicators, steer the transition plan, etc.
Focus on the sub-categories Use in responsibility and Use in dependence:
These emissions are classified in the sub-categories “Use in responsibility” and “Use in dependence”, respectively according to the degree of responsibility or dependence.
It is recommended to present the emission profile final with and without the sub-category “Use in dependence”. The two results are complementary and the Bilan Carbone® shall provide indicators adapted to each lever of action.
An organisation is never completely responsible for a downstream emission, nor completely dependent. This separation is therefore at the organisation's discretion, according to what will be most useful to steer its actions.
Use in responsibility: covers emissions necessary for the direct use of these products, i.e. emissions generated at the time of their use over their entire lifetime.
In the case of goods, these emissions are generally due to energy or consumable use (fuel for vehicles, ink cartridges for printers, electricity for electronic devices, etc.).
In the case of services, they are due to the direct application of the service in question. Thus, if it is a service key to the creation of a good, the material consumption necessary for the creation of the good is to be accounted for. For example, an architectural firm working on plans for a building should include the material consumption associated with construction. An organisation providing online training should include the energy used by learners to operate their electronic devices during the training period.
Use in dependence: when the use of products sold or distributed by the organisation is conditioned by the use ofother products, this sub-category covers additional emissions related to the manufacture or use of those other goods and services (excluding infrastructures or other collective goods and services) over their entire lifetime.
The question of use in dependence often arises when the product (good or service) is not a final product but an intermediate product. Its use is then conditioned on the use of another product. This dependence is a vulnerability of the organisation which it must quantify.
Several intermediate products may be necessary before the final product. It is recommended to focus on the most significant product(s) with regard to the Use category: if the organisation sells steel to make a car body, itself sold to a car manufacturer, it indeed considers the fuel use of the car.
Conversely, “at the end of the chain”, it is not required to include public infrastructures and other collective goods or services (ports, roads, public services, etc.) even though the organisation is obviously dependent on them. This dependence may be included in theanalysis of transition risks and opportunities.
Examples and comparisons on use in responsibility and in dependence:
Some non-exhaustive examples are provided here to help organisations appropriate these concepts. As a reminder, and in summary:
-> in responsibility : it is the product (good or service) itself that consumes or emits during its use phase.
-> in dependence : the use of the product (good or service) is conditioned on a consumption or emission.
A company supplies meal trays to airlines
Use (consumption) of energy for the cold chain then cooking.
Use (consumption) of fuel for the entire aircraft
A company carries out chemical surface treatments on certain parts of a car engine
/
Use (consumption) of fuel by vehicles equipped with these parts
A company that manufactures cars
Use (consumption) of fuel of the vehicles
/
A company performs foundation sizing studies (for ski-lift towers)
Use (consumption) of material for foundation manufacture
Use (consumption) of energy to operate the ski-lift
A company that manufactures container ships
Use (consumption) of fuel by the container ship
/
A container shipping company (which transports containers)
/
Carbon intensity of the transported products
A company that manufactures car headlights
Use (consumption) of energy by the headlights to illuminate
Use (consumption) of fuel by vehicles equipped with these headlights
A company that markets advertising panels
Use (consumption) of energy by the panels (backlit for example)
Carbon intensity of the products promoted by the advertising
A company that installs electric vehicle charging stations
Use (consumption) of energy of the charges
/
This table does not serve as a general rule, and logical reasoning must be carried out on a case-by-case basis, following the recommendations of practical guides.
Focus on the use of financial investments made
This sub-category covers financial investments and equity participations. It does not denote the organisation's purchases (goods or services). The organisation accounts for this sub-category based on the Bilan Carbone® of the supported organisations or projects, or based on the choice of economic sectors exploiting the assets.
⏳[WIP] ABC and its community will position themselves in more detail on emissions related to financial investments made.
Other accounting principles concerning several categories
Owner or tenant
In a Bilan Carbone®, emissions shall be accounted for even if the organisation is only a tenant of premises or vehicles. In accordance with operational control, it is the notion of operation and use that shall be retained.
In tools, it may be relevant to distinguish these two uses: either to better steer actions (the actions to be undertaken may differ depending on whether an asset is leased or owned), or because this leads to differences in exports (BEGES-R).
Inflation
Where the organisation uses spend-based factors, it may correct those spend-based factors according to the inflation applicable to its purchases or rentals of goods and services.
If the organisation is able to calculate the specific inflation rate experienced by the product or service concerned between the creation date of the EF and the assessment date, it shall use that calculated inflation rate. For example, an organisation using the same provider for its advertising campaigns every year, which observed a 10% inflation on that provider's rates (for the same service) between the EF creation year and the current year should correct the EF by that 10% inflation.
If the organisation is not able to calculate this specific inflation rate, it may rely on inflation measures of the different countries concerned, preferably by sector.
Digital
The carbon impact of digital within the Bilan Carbone® requires aggregation of several sub-categories if it is to be treated as a single block by the organisation:
The “ digital equipment ” owned or leased are physical goods, and are therefore accounted either in Material and goods inputs if they are consumables (peripherals, etc.), or in Fixed assets if they are capitalised assets (computers, printers, etc.)
The “ digital usages ” of the organisation:
If they involve an indirect impact (external servers, data processing and storage, data transport on networks, etc.), they are accounted for in Service inputs in the sub-category Digital usages.
Conversely, if they involve direct energy consumption by the organisation (for example the electricity consumption of a computer), they are in principle already accounted for in the category Energy, and must not be double counted.
External “digital usages”, induced by the organisation's activities (for example consultation on end-user terminals by beneficiaries or customers), are accounted for in the category Use, like other products and services provided by the organisation.
Future packaging
Aggregating the two sub-categories allows treating in a single approach the manufacturing and end-of-life emissions of packaging:
Material destined for packaging, included in the category Material and goods inputs
Packaging treatment at end of life, included in the category End of life
Among the reasons why specific information on packaging is necessary, by individualising it within all incoming materials:
A packaging does not follow the same specifications as the product, and for the same product, the packaging can strongly depend on the transport modalities to be followed
The customer (or beneficiary) of the product or service generally does not expect the same from the packaging as from the product
Packaging is an operational responsibility distinct from that of the product, which generates specific information
Marketing and commercial constraints for packaging and the product are not identical
The fate of discarded packaging can be apprehended statistically (because they will be discarded everywhere), so it is possible to assign average emission factors to their end of life
Avoided and sequestered emissions
⏳[WIP] The Bilan Carbone® methodology does not treat avoided emissions or sequestered emissions. It is recommended to rely on the guide for calculating avoided emissions (pillar B) and on the guide for building a carbon sequestration strategy (pillar C). A forthcoming update of the Bilan Carbone® method will provide guidelines on quantifying avoided emissions.
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