Bilan Carbone® for Freight Transportation: The Complete Guide
Key points to learn in this article
- La méthodologie Bilan Carbone® de l’ADEME est le cadre de référence français pour quantifier les gaz à effet de serre liés à l’acheminement de produits. D’autres normes coexistent : GHG Protocol, ISO 14083, ISO 14064, GLEC Framework.
- In the construction industry, freight accounts for 8 to 15 percent of Scope 3 emissions —a share that is often underestimated, yet one that can be directly addressed through the choice of modes of transportation, vehicles, and fuels.
- The carbon intensity varies dramatically depending on the mode of transport: air freight emits up to 50 times more than an equivalent rail route per metric ton-kilometer transported.
- Regulatory deadlines are coming one after another: the GHG Reporting Decree, ETS2, CSRD, and the 2026 Climate and Resilience Act—players in the construction sector must begin structuring their carbon accounting now.
- Solutions such as Decarbo’Transport® incorporate actual primary indicators (actual fuel consumption, mileage, load factor) in accordance with ISO 14083—going well beyond generic values.
Contents
What is the carbon footprint of freight transportation?
The carbon footprint of freight transportation refers to the quantification of greenhouse gases (GHGs) generated by the movement of products, materials, or equipment. In the construction industry, this is a constant reality: concrete deliveries, the transport of construction debris, the delivery of machinery to job sites, and the supply of steel or prefabricated wood products.
These emissions fall under Scope 3in the international GHG classification —in other words, indirect emissions related to an organization’s value chain. Scope 3 emissions account for between 60 and 90 percent of the total carbon footprint in the construction industry. In other words, neglecting logistics means ignoring the majority of one’s actual environmental impact.
À noter : on ne parle pas ici des déplacements de passagers ou des voitures de fonction, mais bien de l’acheminement d’approvisionnements — c’est-à-dire tous les parcours effectués par des camions, utilitaires ou autres engins chargés de produits, à toutes les étapes de la chaîne d’approvisionnement d’un chantier. Un poste souvent sous-estimé dans le bilan carbone d’un chantier.
Definition
Scope 3 encompasses all of an organization’s indirect GHG emissions: material purchases, upstream and downstream deliveries, business travel, and the end of a structure’s life cycle. For a player in the construction industry, this category is one of the most significant—and one of the most actionable, particularly through the choice of transportation modes and energy sources used.
First, the use of GCI has led to a significant reduction in the uncertainty of the GHG inventory—particularly for Scope 3—from 50% to 5%. The group therefore has data that is 95% accurate.
Using supplier data collected and analyzed by the GCI tool, in-depth analyses were conducted internally on the impact of 35,000 products, grouping suppliers into 170 categories. This represents more than 80% of purchases by volume and value.
ADEME Bilan Carbone® Methodology and Other Standards
ADEME’s Bilan Carbone® method: the French standard
The Bilan Carbone® methodology is a tool developed by ADEME (the French Agency for Ecological Transition). It is a registered trademark — the term may only be used to refer specifically to this framework, and not to a generic GHG inventory. When an organization says it is “conducting its Bilan Carbone® assessment,” it is using this specific, structured approach.
When applied to freight, this methodology is based on emission factors listed in ADEME’s public Base Carbone® database. These factors are expressed in kilograms of CO₂ equivalent per metric ton-kilometer (t.km), per liter of fuel consumed, or per kilometer traveled, depending on the mode of transport in question. They cover all modes of transport: diesel or electric trucks, freight trains, river barges, ocean-going container ships, and cargo planes.
Did you know?
ADEME’s Base Carbone® database lists more than 5,000 emission factors. These default values are useful as a starting point, but they are less accurate than primary measurements based on actual fuel consumption and mileage—two metrics that onboard telematics systems can now collect automatically.
Other Standards Applicable to Logistics
The Carbon® analysis method is not the only approach. Depending on the regulatory or contractual context, other standards may apply:
🌍 GHG Protocol (Scope 3 Standard) — An international framework developed by the World Resources Institute. It categorizes GHG emissions into 15 categories, including upstream transportation (Category 4) and downstream transportation (Category 9). It has been widely adopted by international companies in the sector.
🚛 ISO 14083 (2023) — A standard dedicated to the quantification and reporting of GHG emissions associated with logistics operations. It includes specific calculation rules by mode of transport, energy type, and load level, and is gradually becoming the benchmark standard among the most demanding clients.
📦 ISO 14064 — General standard for organizational GHG inventories, useful as an auditability framework in a CSRD or BEGES initiative.
📊 GHG Inventory — A legal requirement in France for companies with more than 500 employees. It can be prepared using ADEME’s Bilan Carbone® method or other equivalent approaches.
Warning
“Bilan Carbone®” is a registered trademark of ADEME. It is incorrect to use this term to refer to a generic GHG inventory. The appropriate terms are: GHG inventory, carbon footprint, emissions assessment, or carbon accounting. Only the ADEME methodology justifies this designation.
Why the Construction Industry Can No Longer Ignore Its Logistical Footprint
A massive Scope 3, often underestimated
The construction sector accounts forapproximately 25% of CO₂ emissions in France. Logistics plays a central role in this carbon footprint — transporting raw materials, hauling away construction waste, and making deliveries during construction. A large construction site can generate several dozen heavy-duty truck trips per week, with a cumulative emissions total of several hundred metric tons of CO₂eq per year.
Without a structured accounting system, these emissions are either ignored or estimated with margins of uncertainty as high as 40 to 50 percent. Such a lack of precision becomes untenable when project owners or CSRD auditors demand verifiable and auditable figures.
Did you know?
A 300-kilometer round trip by a diesel truck carrying a 25-metric-ton load generates approximately 150 kg of CO₂eq —roughly the same as 15 gasoline-powered cars making the same trip empty. When scaled to a construction site operating over several months, the amount of CO₂eq associated with transportation alone can exceed that of all the energy consumed on site.
A cascade of regulatory requirements
Regulatory pressure is intensifying simultaneously on several fronts:
🏛️ “Transport GHG Information” Decree (2017, revised in 2023) — Any freight service provided for a fee must include information on GHG emissions, specifying the vehicle type, fuel, distance, and load factor.
💶 ETS2 — Expansion of the European Carbon Market — Starting in 2027–2028, the freight trucking industry will be integrated into the European CO₂ emissions trading system. Without concrete measures, companies will face default valuations that are often financially burdensome.
📋 CSRD — Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive — Mandatory non-financial reporting requires companies to document Scope 3 emissions, including logistics. Inconsistent and unverifiable disclosures will no longer suffice.
⚖️ Climate and Resilience Act (August 2026) — All public procurement contracts must include at least one measurable environmental criterion. The CO₂ score, based on auditable analyses, will become a key differentiator in the sector’s competitive bidding processes.
Warning
Setting up a logistics GHG accounting system takes 12 to 18 months on average (data collection, data validation, and certification). Stakeholders who fail to plan for this transition will fall behind, and it will be difficult to catch up before the regulatory deadlines.
How can we quantify GHG emissions from freight transportation?
Climate Severity by Mode of Transportation
GHG emissions vary considerably depending on the mode of transportation used. The calculation is based on emission factors from ADEME’s Base Carbone®, expressed in gCO₂eq per metric ton-kilometer. Here are the key trends to keep in mind when choosing the most appropriate mode of transportation:
🚛 Diesel truck: 62 to 120 gCO₂eq/t·km depending on vehicle size and load factor — the dominant mode of transport in France, but also the highest-emitting among land-based options
⚡ Electric trucks: 5 to 20 gCO₂eq/t-km depending on the national electricity mix—the most fuel-efficient option for short distances in urban areas
🚂 Electrified rail: 2 to 10 gCO₂eq/t-km — up to 90% lower impact than diesel road transport over the same distances
⛵ Inland waterways: 30 to 50 gCO₂eq/t·km — applicable to aggregates and bulk materials
✈️ Air travel: 500 to 1,500 gCO₂eq/t.km — to be reserved for absolute emergencies only; comparable to the climate impact of thousands of cars traveling the same route
These differences illustrate the importance of mode choice: for the same volume of goods transported over the same distance, the impact on greenhouse gas emissions can vary by a factor of 1 to 50 depending on the mode of transport chosen.
Definition
The ton-kilometer (t.km) is the standard unit of measurement in logistics. It represents the transport of one metric ton over one kilometer and allows for a comparison of the GHG intensity of different modes of transport with equivalent volume and distance—regardless of the type of product being transported
The data needed for the calculation
To conduct a GHG inventory for product transportation, there are three levels of accuracy:
📊 Primary data (the most accurate): actual fuel consumption per trip, actual mileage, and load factor for each vehicle. This information comes from the carriers’ telematics systems and results in an uncertainty of less than 5%.
📋 Secondary data (default): estimated distances, generic factors from the Base Carbone®, average tonnages. Accessible but imprecise—the uncertainty can exceed 40%, especially for vehicles whose fuel consumption varies significantly depending on traffic conditions.
🔗 Supplier PCF: For materials with integrated logistics (imported steel, prefabricated components), transportation GHG emissions may be included in the ISO 14067 Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) reported by the supplier.
The quality of these sources directly determines the credibility of the inventory in the eyes of an external auditor, a project owner, or a regulatory auditor.
Practical Steps to Decarbonize Your Supply Chain
Measuring your carbon footprint is the first step. The real value lies in the ability to reduce it. Here are the key actionable areas for companies in the construction industry.
Rethinking Supply Chains and Scaling Up Procurement
Modal shift involves replacing road transport with modes that have a lower environmental impact on routes where feasible: rail for long distances, inland waterways for aggregates, and consolidating loads to limit empty trips. In the construction industry, transporting excavated material to recycling facilities often presents underutilized opportunities for consolidation, enabling a 20–35% reduction in GHG emissions without changing the vehicle fleet.
Consolidating deliveries —combining shipments from multiple subcontractors into shared routes—automatically reduces the number of trips, energy consumption, and associated costs.
Last-mile logistics in urban areas can also rely on electric cargo bikes for small construction site deliveries—a solution that is rapidly gaining ground in low-emission zones (LEZs), where internal-combustion vehicles are gradually being banned.
Making the park and its energy use more environmentally friendly
The electrification of light-duty vehicles (vans, construction trucks) is now economically feasible and reduces direct emissions to near-zero levels, depending on the national electricity mix. For heavy-duty vehicles, the first generations of electric or green hydrogen-powered trucks meet the needs for short- and medium-distance travel, particularly in urban areas.
Alternative fuels —HVO (hydrotreated vegetable oil), CNG, and bio-CNG—can reduce the environmental impact of existing internal-combustion vehicle fleets by 30 to 90 percent without the need for immediate replacement of equipment. This is the fastest transition path to implement on a large scale in the construction industry.
Definition
HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil) is a renewable fuel that is compatible with diesel engines without requiring any modifications. It reduces CO₂ emissions by approximately 70 to 90 percent compared to fossil diesel over the entire life cycle—a particularly relevant option for heavy-duty truck fleets in the construction industry.
Optimize Every Run with Data
Sourcing locally reduces the distances traveled. Incorporating a carbon criterion into supplier specifications—using an ISO 14067 carbon footprint—makes it possible to prioritize suppliers that are geographically close or have the lowest CO₂ emissions.
Real-time monitoring —truck load factors, empty runs, driving style—is the fastest way to achieve savings without major investment. A heavy-duty truck traveling 10% above the optimal speed consumes, on average, 15% more energy, which directly impacts annual GHG emissions.
Reducing the climate footprint therefore depends as much on strategic decisions (choice of vehicle type, type of powertrain, energy source) as on day-to-day operational optimizations (optimized routes, maximized load capacity, gradual fleet renewal).
Did you know?
After using Decarbo’Solution® to structure its Scope 3 supplier emissions, Schmidt Groupe reduced the uncertainty in its emissions inventory from 50% to 5% and identified 242 metric tons of CO₂ that could be saved in just a few weeks—without investing in new equipment.
Managing Your Carbon Footprint with the Right Digital Tools
From the Annual Photo to Operational Management
Most players in the construction industry have a BEGES report or a GHG inventory. However, these documents often remain a snapshot in time, compiled once a year with aggregate data that is not very useful on a day-to-day basis.
In logistics, the variation is even more pronounced: emissions vary depending on the project site, the service providers, and the season. A static approach makes it impossible to identify areas for improvement or to chart a credible decarbonization path over the long term.
Definition
A Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) compliant with ISO 14067 quantifies GHG emissions across a product’s entire life cycle, including logistics. For manufacturers of building materials, having a certified PCF allows them to provide their customers with actionable and verifiable carbon data—particularly in public procurement with environmental criteria starting in 2026.
Decarbo’Transport®: Primary Data at the Heart of Measurement
Decarbo’Solution® offers Decarbo’Transport®, a dedicated module that leverages native integration with TK’Blue —the industry standard for measuring logistics GHG emissions (ranked No. 1 by Gartner in the LCAMS segment). It enables the inventory to be populated with real-world primary data —actual fuel consumption per vehicle, mileage, and load factor on a trip-by-trip basis—in accordance with ISO 14083.
– CO₂ intensities based on actual consumption (not on national averages)
– Compliance with the requirements of the GHG Reporting Decree and the future ETS2
– Metrics that are comparable across carriers, regardless of fleet type ✅ A tool for renegotiating ETS carbon surcharges, which are often overestimated
Decarbo’Inventory®: The Analytical GHG Inventory for the Construction Industry
For companies subject to the BEGES requirement or engaged in CSRD reporting, Decarbo’Inventory® is the GHG inventory module of Decarbo’Solution®. Compatible with ADEME’s Carbone® assessment method, the GHG Protocol, and ISO 14064, it covers Scopes 1, 2, and 3—including upstream logistics—and serves as a powerful operational management tool.
Migration from an existing tool is included, regardless of the software previously used.
Decarbo’Tender®: Leveraging Your Carbon Footprint in Bids
Starting in August 2026, environmental criteria will be mandatory in public procurement. Decarbo’Tender® allows for the inclusion of an auditable CO₂ score in bid submissions and enables an objective comparison of supplier bids based on their certified life cycle carbon footprint.
For construction companies bidding on public contracts, this is a concrete way to set themselves apart in an industry where low-carbon construction is gradually becoming the norm rather than the exception.
Warning
Without a specific and verifiable carbon footprint target, industry players risk losing between 10 and 30 percent of their final score in public tenders starting in 2026. The Climate and Resilience Act makes this criterion mandatory for 100 percent of contracts. It is no longer an option.
Conclusion
Carbon assessment of freight transport is one of the most concrete tools available to construction industry stakeholders committed to a decarbonization pathway. With increasing regulatory requirements and key deadlines (ETS2, the 2026 Climate Act, CSRD), organizing logistics GHG accounting is no longer a voluntary effort—it is a competitive imperative for every player in the building and public works sector.
ADEME’s Bilan Carbone® method provides a solid foundation to get started, complementing standards such as ISO 14083 and the GHG Protocol. But its true value lies in the ability to manage, reduce, and leverage this performance—in requests for proposals, supplier relationships, and regulatory reporting.
Decarbo’Solution® supports construction industry stakeholders at every stage: measuring logistics-related GHG emissions using real-world primary data (Decarbo’Transport®), conducting a comprehensive analytical inventory (Decarbo’Inventory®), and incorporating CO₂ criteria into tenders (Decarbo’Tender®). A suite designed to transform a regulatory requirement into a sustainable competitive advantage.
👉 Want to measure and reduce your supply chain’s GHG footprint? Contact the experts at Decarbo’Solution® for a free assessment.
What makes the difference is the quality of the data. An inaccurate GHG inventory is nothing more than a snapshot in time. Commitments without auditable metrics remain mere declarations. Decarbo’Solution® supports organizations in the sector through this transformation, from the initial inventory to the operational management of Scope 3 emissions from suppliers.
Would you like to establish a framework for your company’s responsible procurement before August 2026? Request a demo → Request a personalized demo from the Decarbo’Solution® team