ACT fact sheet
Accelerate Climate Transition
Type : Implementation and monitoring of the action plan/ Evaluation
Date : 2015
Author : CDP and ADEME Target : Companies
The climate emergency and the growing integration of carbon accounting into organisations' strategy show that it is essential toevaluate not only each organisation's GHG emissions, but also its action plan.
In order to improve reporting regarding the action plan, and more generally, the energy-climate transition of organisations, it seems useful to assess which strategy is being implemented and to what extent this strategy is in line with low-carbon transition pathways (outlined for example by the IPCC, the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the work of IDDRI).
It is with this in mind that a new method developed in 2015 by CDP and ADEME, originally named "Assessing low Carbon Transition" (ACT®), was developed. To date, ACT® is the only international initiative that creates a framework of "climate accountability" for companies with respect to the2°C objective of the Paris Agreement. ACT® is available in two parts: "ACT Step-by-Step" and "ACT Assessment". The first allows building a strategy aligned with relevant and ambitious low-carbon pathways, while the second allows its valorisation by assessing its credibility and robustness.
What are the objectives of the approach?
ACT® aims to measure an organisation's alignment with a future low-carbon world. These methods are produced from a framework, which enables valorising strategies compatible with a low-carbon transition pathway. ACT®, through its analysis, awards a score intended to inform companies and investors, and indirectly public authorities, about the credibility of the low-carbon strategy. Through ACT®, companies are assessed according to sectoral criteria, in accordance with sectoral 2 °C pathways from the.
What is (are) the target(s) of the approach?
"ACT Step-by-Step" and "ACT Assessment" are aimed at companies, investors, consultancies, federations and to a lesser extent public authorities. To ensure their adaptability to organisations of different sizes, ADEME and CDP tested the ACT® methodologies with 23 large international companies and 30 French SMEs and intermediate-sized enterprises from the six major sectors of activity.
Today, there are 14 sectoral ACT® methodologies for: automotive, electricity, retail, cement, transport, oil & gas, iron & steel, aluminium, paper & cardboard, construction & property management, construction, glass, chemicals. A methodology called " Generic " is applicable to a wide range of other sectors: mining, waste and water management, catering, information and communication, health, entertainment, public administration…
Does the approach rely on a shared scientific basis?
ACT® methods draw on work from, among others, the IEA, the French national low-carbon strategy (SNBC), the SBTi and IPCC reports.
Each module is then composed of several indicators. These modules and indicators are weighted according to sectors. The weighting was developed to reflect the relative importance of the modules in the low-carbon transition of different sectors.
Does the approach rely on a specific methodology?
The steps of the method ACT "Step-by-Step" (or ACT-S for "Step-by-Step") are as follows:
1) Current situation/initial diagnosis
2) Issues and Challenges
3) Vision
4) New Strategy
5) Action Plan
The steps of the method ACT "Assessment" (or ACT-A for "Assessment") are as follows:
1) Performance rating
2) Narrative rating
3) Trend rating
4) Feedback report
The ACT® scoring thus combines:
A score from 1 to 20 (Performance Rating)
A letter from A to E (Assessment Rating: the company is more or less prepared for the transition to a low-emission economy)
A sign (Trend Rating: + (improvement), - (deterioration) and = (stable))
For companies and in particular SMEs and intermediate-sized enterprises, ACT® can therefore take the form of a method to structure their low-carbon transition strategy, indicating through its scoring of different criteria the points to prioritise to define and ensure the continuity of their organisation's strategy.
The scope of ACT® methodologies resembles an organisational boundary. However, it differs from that of GHG inventories, for which organisational limits are based on a control/ownership approach of GHG sources and sinks. The ACT® scope therefore potentially encompasses all of a company's activities and its entire value chain.
Temporal boundaries for a given sector are determined by the need for past, present and future information about the organisation. The degree of past information to include is determined by what is necessary to infer the required pathway for an appropriate assessment.
The methodologies aim to include all significant sources of direct and indirect emissions (including scopes 1, 2 and 3) in order to faithfully reflect a substantial share of the organisation's total emissions.
The reporting boundaries of ACT® methods for a given sector are defined based on the main emission sources of that sector, following the relevance principle ("relevance"). This gives organisations some leeway to adapt these boundaries to their specific sector of activity. Each ACT® method specifies a detailed list of emission sources to be taken into account, including those that are mandatory and those that are optional. For example, in the ACT "Generic" methodology, direct emissions from land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) are considered optional.
Does the approach rely on tools?
Excel methods and data collection and scoring tools have been developed for each sectoral method.
The ACT "Step-by-Step" method relies on two toolboxes:
a Strategy toolbox (which includes 4 types of resources, including a SWOT matrix to assess the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the organisation's action plan)
a Carbon Performance toolbox (which consists of a main tool dedicated to defining and understanding carbon performance indicators)
Can other low-carbon transition methods and tools be used to achieve the objectives of this approach?
In order to be able to start ACT® processes, the organisation must have carried out at least one organisational GHG inventory within the past two years. They thus fit within the continuity of an assessment carried out using internationally recognised methods, such as ISO 14064-1, the GHG Protocol or the Bilan Carbone®. The ACT® methods thus make it possible to start, or continue, reflection work on the transition plan in the form of concrete actions (reduction potential, definition of monitoring, pilot, resource needs, financing, stakeholders). The ultimate objective being to test the robustness and alignment of this plan with the objectives set by the Paris Agreement.
Other initiatives address the same issues as ACT®, such as The Transition Pathway Initiative, which uses public documentation to assess organisations, or SBTi methods. ACT® has the advantage of being a sectoral, transparent approach based on company data (public or verifiable).
Does it allow third-party recognition? If so, in what way?
After several months of assessment, the organisation receives the following elements:
A detailed explanation of the information used for the assessment.
A summary of the results obtained.
Recommendations to improve its GHG reduction strategy and adopt good practices.
A list of consultants and assessors is proposed to support organisations in their ACT " Step-by-Step " and ACT " Assessment ”.
Attention, the result of the initial diagnosis of ACT "Step-by-Step" does not necessarily reflect the score obtained within ACT "Assessment". The organisation must undergo a specific audit for ACT "Assessment" to obtain the correct corresponding score.
Can this approach be harmonised with other international frameworks?
Versions of ACT® have been developed internationally through local programmes, notably in Latin America through the ACT-DDP (ACT-Deep Decarbonisation Pathway) project and in Japan, with the aim of supporting the country's neutrality ambition.
In 2024, France represents 1/4 of the organisations that have undertaken an ACT® process.
The fact sheets of the Overview of carbon accounting methods and tools are the result of a synthesis work by ABC. We welcome your feedback or questions on this form.
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