How can you carry out a carbon audit and reduce your company's impact?

Today's businesses face a dual challenge: ensuring their development while minimising their environmental footprint. This last point is all the more important as, in addition to the obvious ethical issues, legal obligations sometimes enter into the equation. In particular, the obligation to produce a carbon footprint report.

A headache for organisations? It may seem complicated at first glance to accurately assess your greenhouse gas emissions, but it's well worth the effort. In this way, you can accurately assess the impact of your activities, and then identify areas for improvement that will not only benefit the planet, but also your brand image!

So, in practical terms, how do you carry out a corporate carbon footprint ? Is there a specific method you can use? And what tools are there to help you do it? We tell you all about it.

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What is a carbon footprint?

A carbon footprint is an assessment tool developed by ADEME (Agence De l'Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l'Énergie) to measure the quantity of greenhouse gases (GHGs) associated with :

• an activity ;
• a product
• a service ;
• or even an organisation as a whole.

👉 As part of the legal obligations affecting certain companies in France, it is also known as a BEGES, or regulatory GHG balance.

The results of this carbon footprint are generally expressed in units of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e), as other greenhouse gases are also taken into account:

• methane (CH4) ;
• hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) ;
• nitrous oxide (N2O) ;
• perfluorocarbons (PFCs);
• sulphur hexafluoride (SF6).

☝️ This measure simply standardises the emissions of different types of GHG according to their global warming potential in relation to CO2.

Is a company carbon footprint compulsory?

It is compulsory for many organisations to carry out a BEGES. What's more, since 1ᵉʳ January 2023, it has indeed been a comprehensive assessment, including scopes 1, 2 and 3 (we'll come back to these concepts of scope later in the article 👀).

More specifically, the following are affected by this legal requirement, in accordance with article L229-25:

• companies with more than 500 employees in mainland France;
• companies with more than 250 employees in the French overseas regions and departments;
• the State, regions, départements, metropolises, urban communities, conurbation communities and municipalities or communities of municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants;
• public establishments and other legal entities governed by public law employing more than 250 people.

In addition, Decree no. 2021-1784 of 24 December 2021 also provides for the preparation of a simplified GHG balance sheet for companies with more than 50 employees receiving State aid under the Recovery Plan.

☝️ It is important to comply with these obligations, as failure to do so can result in fines of up to €10,000!

Why is it important to have a carbon footprint?

If you are not concerned by the requirements described above, you will nevertheless benefit from carrying out your carbon footprint 👉.

Raising awareness of climate change

A company convinced of the urgent need to combat climate change, however well-intentioned it may be, needs to understand the scale of the challenges that lie ahead.

In this respect, the carbon footprint is a perfect tool for raising awareness, since it allows you to quantify precisely the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from your activities and their impact on the environment. This awareness is necessary for the implementation of new, more eco-responsible practices.

Improving the company's brand image

The environment has become a major concern for many consumers. Some even say they are prepared to choose one brand over another if it has a lesser impact.

72% of French people say they are committed to responsible consumption.

14ᵉ baromètre de la consommation responsable Greenflex ADEME

What customers don't appreciate as much, however, is the greenwashing used by many companies to give themselves a falsely ecological image.

By publishing your carbon footprint and deploying an action plan to back it up, you demonstrate that you're not just paying lip service to your green credentials.

It's a good way of standing out from the crowd, attracting new customers and retaining existing ones 😀 !

Attracting talent more easily

If consumers are looking for more ethics, so too are workers. Many of them, particularly those from the younger generation, place corporate values among their first criteria of choice when looking for a job... sometimes even ahead of salary!

78% of employees would choose to join a company committed to the ecological transition, given equivalent offers. And 42% would, in the long term, like to work in a job more closely linked to the environment.

Étude CSA Les salariés et la transition écologique dans les entreprises réalisée pour l’ADEME et LinkedIn

In a context of war for talent, where it is becoming increasingly complicated to recruit in certain sectors (IT in particular), publishing your carbon footprint and working to reduce your impact will clearly make a difference!

Making savings

Finally, even if this statement seems counter-instinctive in the minds of some company directors, adopting a genuine sustainable development approach is often synonymous with savings... always good to take in the current inflationary context 🤑!

These include :

• energy sobriety (investment in energy-efficient technologies, raising employee awareness, etc.) ;
• good resource management practices, such as recycling materials; and
• optimising transport, by car-pooling, eliminating unnecessary and costly journeys, etc.

How do you calculate your carbon footprint? The step-by-step method

Foreword: Who can carry out a carbon footprint?

If you have the necessary resources and skills, it is entirely possible to carry out your carbon assessment in-house. In this case, a project manager should be appointed to coordinate all the actions and stakeholders involved.

☝️Néanmoins, this configuration remains the prerogative of large organisations or those that are more mature on the subject. In fact, many organisations prefer to be supported by an external service provider for their BEGES... even though the action plan that will emerge from the analyses should largely be the result of internal reflection!

Having said that, here are the different steps to follow when drawing up your carbon footprint 👉.

Stage 1: Choosing your method - focus on the ADEME Bilan Carbone

The operational scope

The Bilan Carbone ® method, as registered, was developed by ADEME. It is generally the method most widely used by companies.

In a nutshell, it involves a broad operational scope, i.e. a global assessment of greenhouse gas emissions including :

• Scope 1: direct greenhouse gas emissions from sources controlled or owned by the company (e.g. fuel combustion);
• Scope 2: emissions associated with the production of the energy needed to carry out our activities;
• Scope 3: all other indirect emissions not related to your production. For example, business travel, purchases of goods and services, etc.

Calculation methods

The Bilan Carbone method is based on two calculation techniques:

• Where possible, the calculation is based on physical emission factors such as kilograms of CO2 equivalent (kg CO2e) emitted per unit of activity or consumption.
  For example, a physical emission factor for electricity could be expressed as kg CO2e per kilowatt-hour (kg CO2e/kWh).
  
  👉 The formula: Quantity GHG = Quantity Consumed x Physical Emission Factor.
  
  
• If not possible, a monetary ratio is used, such as the costs associated with each tonne of CO2e emitted.
  These costs can be based on carbon prices on emissions trading markets (for example, the European carbon market), or on estimates of the marginal costs of abating emissions. However, this is a less accurate estimate than the previous one.
  
  👉 The formula: Quantity GHG = Price x Monetary Emission Factor.

💡 Note, however, that there are other methods for drawing up your company's carbon footprint:

• the GHG Protocol, an internationally recognised protocol ;
• ISO 14064, which sets out the principles and requirements for verifying and validating greenhouse gas inventories.

Step 2: Define your own operational scope

This stage involves identifying your own sources of emissions. In other words, mapping out what needs to be examined, based on the specific characteristics of your company, such as its size, sector or activities.

This is where the famous scopes come in. In other words, you need to take into account both your direct and indirect emissions, in order to draw up the best possible picture of your actual situation.

👉 Examples:

• A mass retail shop will account for:
  • direct emissions from its facilities (scope 1) such as those resulting from the energy consumption of its warehouses, delivery vehicles, etc. ;
  • indirect energy-related emissions (scope 2) from the electricity used on its premises;
• A software publisher, whose activities are mainly based on IT services, will focus more on indirect emissions (scope 3). These include emissions associated with :
  • the use of its products by customers ;
  • employee travel;
  • external IT servers used to host data, etc.

Step 3: Collect your data

Once you know which direction to investigate 🕵️, it's time to collect the necessary data.

This can be a tedious task, because depending on the operational scope you have chosen, you will have to go hunting for information from your suppliers, your customers, look at the statistics, and so on.

👉 Example:

A company manufacturing electronic products will need to collect data on GHG emissions both :

• associated with the production of raw materials and components by its suppliers;
• generated during the use of the items by consumers.

Of course, don't do this work alone. Make each department responsible for supporting you in this data collection process (the purchasing department, for example).

Step 4: Analyse the data to draw up the carbon footprint

Using all the data collected, calculate your carbon footprint and analyse your main sources of greenhouse gas emissions. This will enable you to identify the areas where reducing your impact is a priority.

🤯 Let's face it, this stage is rather technical. In fact, ADEME recommends that you take training courses in this area.

You also have the option of using an external service provider, or relying on dedicated tools.

💡 Carbo comes to mind, a handy SaaS solution developed to help VSEs and SMEs carry out their greenhouse gas emissions assessment. To do this, the software :

• helps you collect your data collaboratively;
• simplifies the calculation of your CO2 emissions by guiding you step by step through the process, based on the ABC methodology, over 30 reference databases (including that of ADEME) and the physical and monetary approaches mentioned above.

And to make it easier to understand, and therefore to draw up your action plan, the results are presented in a personalised and interactive way, by emission item.

Step 5: Draw up an appropriate action plan

All the work carried out above should lead to the development of an action plan, or transition plan, jointly drawn up with the stakeholders. In short, the aim is to make concrete improvements in order to reduce your company's impact.

☝️ To ensure the effectiveness of this action plan, make sure it includes :

• the objectives to be achieved, supported by KPIs ;
• the people responsible ;
• the timetable for the operations to be carried out
• the associated budget.

Step 6: Publish your carbon footprint

In the interests of transparency, all companies covered by the BEGES obligation must publish their carbon footprint, electronically, on ADEME's GHG Platform. It can then be consulted by anyone 👀.

This operation must be carried out every 3 years for public legal entities, and every 4 years for private legal entities.

💡 However, even if you are not obliged to do so, we recommend that you publish a summary of your carbon footprint as well as an improvement report. The aim? To improve your brand image and employer brand.

How much does a carbon footprint cost?

If you use an external service, the cost of preparing a carbon footprint varies considerably depending on a number of factors, such as the size and complexity of the organisation, the number of scopes considered, the methodologies used, and so on. In short, depending on the scope of the analyses to be provided by the service provider.

💵 But to simplify things, consider that the range is between a few thousand euros and a few tens of thousands of euros.

Note, however, that ADEME offers the DIAG Décarbon'action programme, through which SMEs and small ETIs can carry out their first carbon assessment at advantageous rates:

• 4,000 if the company has fewer than 250 employees ;
• 6,000 if they have between 250 and 499 employees.

In any case, you'll understand that carrying out a free carbon assessment means bringing the process in-house, and therefore devoting a fair amount of time and resources to it.

💡 A good alternative is to use software such as that mentioned above. They make the job much easier, while remaining less expensive than a consultancy firm.

Best practices for reducing your company's carbon footprint

Now that you know where you stand thanks to your carbon footprint, here are a few ideas for reducing your impact:

• Save energy on a daily basis by switching off unused appliances, avoiding over-use of air conditioning and heating, etc. ;
• Switch to renewable energies such as solar or wind power;
• Limit travel to the office by teleworking, or to meet customers by videoconferencing;
• Use suppliers who are geographically close to you, and who are responsible in their production methods or waste management;
• Invest in the research and development of sustainable development solutions;
• Consider the digital footprint of your activities. Paperless is all well and good... but how much do the data centres in which you host your data consume?
• Offset your carbon footprint through projects such as reforestation;
• Implement a genuine waste reduction policy;
• Market products and services designed to last over time, etc.

💡Discover in more detail how to become more eco-responsible by reading our article dedicated to sustainable development in business.

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How to do a carbon footprint: what to remember?

Whether it's a legal obligation or simply a desire to reduce their environmental impact, one thing remains certain: more and more companies are facing up to the carbon footprint exercise.

Fortunately, there are a number of online resources available to help them improve their skills in this area, including those published on the ADEME website. However, the process remains complicated, particularly when a large operational scope is involved.

There are a number of solutions available to those in charge of the project: building up skills on the subject (time-consuming), calling in a consultancy firm (costly) or relying on software (a good compromise).

Finally, after all the tedious calculations, it's important to put an action plan in place... and, above all, to follow it through!

Armed with all this advice, become a player in this change towards a better world 🌍 !