1. Which emissions should be included in a company's Bilan Carbone?

This question can be broken down into 2 parts:
a) Greenhouse gases accounted for
b) Scope of actions accounted for

The first part is very simple: 6 greenhouse gases are taken into account (CO2, N2O, CH4, SF6, HFCs and PFCs). These gases are converted into CO2 equivalents in order to have a universal unit of measurement (in the same way as we would consolidate $ into €).

The scope of shares counted is far more controversial!

A Bilan Carbone® records all direct and indirect emissions linked to a company's activity, which "specialists" distinguish into 3 scopes:
- Scope 1 - Direct energy emissions: own consumption of fuels, gas, refrigerants, etc.)
- Scope 2 - Indirect energy emissions: own consumption of electricity. This emission is indirect because it is the production of electricity that generates greenhouse gas emissions, and not its consumption.
- Scope 3: Other emissions linked to services or products sold, notably from suppliers (emissions linked to the manufacture and transport of products purchased) and customers (emissions linked to the use of products sold and their end-of-life).

For most companies, 70-90% of emissions come from scope 3. Hence the importance of distinguishing between a "real" Bilan Carbone® which includes this scope 3, and a simple Bilan GES (Greenhouse Gas) which only includes scopes 1 and 2.

2. What perimeter is required by various national and international bodies?

To date, in France, only the GHG balance sheet (without scope 3) is mandatory for companies with more than 500 employees , but legislation is changing. The Convention Citoyenne pour le Climat is proposing several measures to reinforce the usefulness of the Bilan Carbone:
a) Annual obligation (vs. every 4 years today)
b) Extension to scope 3 (making a Bilan Carbone® vs. Bilan GES compulsory)
c) Conditioning of public subsidies to the positive evolution of the carbon footprint
d) Extension to all companies with over 50 employees (with accompanying measures)

Internationally, the complete Bilan Carbone® defined by France (through the ABC methodology) is "better" than the international reference methodologies.

Who can do more can do less. A company that has carried out a Bilan Carbone® must therefore be able to extract its carbon reports in all formats: GHG Protocol, CDP, ISO 14069. Traace offers this extraction directly within the tool, without the need for new data collection.

3. How are greenhouse gas emissions calculated?

For each emission item, the CO2 equivalent (the official unit of measurement) is calculated by multiplying a raw operational figure by a directly associated emission factor.

For example, to calculate emissions linked to our own electricity consumption, we can multiply a raw data figure "number of kWh of electricity consumed" by an emission factor "weight of CO2 emitted per 1kwH of electricity".

However,the granularity of the raw data and the emission factor must be adapted to the size of the emission item. In our example, it would be more interesting to multiply the "number of kWh per electricity source" by the emission factor associated with each of these electricity sources (nuclear, gas, coal, photovoltaic, etc.).

This granularity is essential to provide actionable levers that will be reflected in the company's future carbon footprint (e.g. increasing the proportion of electricity from low-emission sources), and to pragmatically define the data to be collected.

With today's wide range of methods, it is urgent to impose on carbon accounting requirements comparable to those of financial accounting. Traace anticipates and applies to its carbon balances the main principles of reliable and fair carbon accounting: exhaustiveness of scope (no half-measures), continuity of methods (evolutions only to bring precision), non-compensation (induced, avoided and financed emissions clearly identified).

4. Is Bilan Carbone just a measurement exercise?

A Bilan Carbone® must produce at least 2 deliverables:

Measuring the company's carbon footprint

This is the exercise of accounting for emissions, divided into significant items. In most cases, these figures are accompanied by ratios adapted to the company's activity and size - essential for decoupling the evolution of the carbon footprint from the company's growth.

The plan to reduce emissions induced by the company's activity

Hence the importance of having sufficiently precise information on the blocks that count, in order to define actionable levers whose results can be measured. These levers must then be managed by people in charge to ensure that they are implemented.

Tennaxia provides "experts on demand" to find new ways of reducing induced emissions in order to achieve the objectives set by the company. Find out more in our dedicated article.

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