Developing Your “Carbon” Assessment and Action Plan with a Service Provider or … In-House: How Should You Choose?

What is an organization’s carbon assessment/plan?

Decarbonization refers to the set of actions and measures implemented to reduce the carbon footprint of an organization, an industry, a country, or a community. Directly linked to the fight against climate change, it has become a key element for entities seeking to organize their transition to a low-carbon economy.

A decarbonization strategy, or carbon assessment/plan, is a roadmap that establishes and guides the decarbonization measures implemented by an organization to chart an effective trajectory for reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in order to:

📈 Ensure their long-term viability

💯 Boost their brand image

✅ Comply with legislation that is becoming increasingly strict on environmental issues

🏅 Improve Their Carbon Competitiveness®

📝 The Challenges of a Carbon Assessment/Plan

🌿 Environmental Issues

The latest IPCC assessment report once again confirms the dominant role of human activities in climate change, as well as the irreversible and devastating consequences that this imbalance will have on our ways of life. That is why committing to a transition toward a low-carbon economy is essential to ensuring livable conditions for present and future generations.

🇫🇷 National Challenges: Meeting the SNBC’s Goals

The National Low-Carbon Strategy (SNBC) was first introduced by the Energy Transition for Green Growth Act (LTECV) in 2015. It serves as a roadmap for France in the fight against climate change and provides guidance for implementing the transition to a low-carbon, circular, and sustainable economy across all sectors. It has two goals: to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and to reduce the carbon footprint of French consumers.

Businesses are directly affected by the SNBC and must drastically reduce GHG emissions from their operations. Implementing a decarbonization program is therefore the first step in developing their low-carbon strategy.

📑 Legal and Regulatory Issues:

Today, there are many laws in place to encourage efforts to combat climate change and limit its impacts, such as:

➡️ The Climate and Resilience Act, adopted in August 2021: calls for the development of decarbonization roadmaps for the sectors with the highest emissions (transportation, buildings, agriculture, etc.)

➡️ The Environmental Code, specifically Article L. 229-25, which has been in effect since 2020, stipulates that companies with more than 500 employees are now required to prepare a GHG inventory

➡️ The Energy and Climate Act passed in 2019: which sets a target of reducing fossil fuel consumption by 40%

➡️ The Grenelle II Act, enacted in 2010, places the fight against climate change “at the top of the list of priorities.” It pursues this goal through three main areas:

• The Decline in Energy Consumption
• Prevention of Greenhouse Gas Emissions
• Promoting Renewable Energy

These laws are bound to evolve and become increasingly strict and rigorous in light of the environmental crisis we are facing. That is why anticipating these regulatory requirements—by adopting a low-carbon path now—enables organizations to remain compliant and ensure their long-term viability.

💪 The four steps to follow

1️⃣ Calculate Your Carbon Footprint

The Bilan Carbone® offers numerous environmental, economic, and regulatory opportunities. Conducting it allows a company to identify its main sources of emissions and define its low-carbon trajectory. To be compliant, the Bilan Carbone® must be conducted in accordance with specific methodologies and databases, such as the GHG Protocol, ISO 14064, or the Bilan Carbone® Method developed by ADEME and the ABC (Association for Low-Carbon Transition). The organization can then set the targets it wishes to achieve.

The Bilan Carbone® is a key focus for businesses—all businesses. That is why Decarbo’Solution® (Decarbo’Solution®) has decided to demystify and make carbon footprint assessments more accessible through a comprehensive yet easy-to-use platform, offered at a very competitive price, which provides:

✅ A seamless, self-learning user experience

✅ Multi-user access enabling collaborative data entry for the GHG inventory

✅ A customized questionnaire based on the company's business activities

✅ Free calculation of PCFs (Product Carbon Footprint according to ISO 14 067) for suppliers

✅ Reporting in compliance with ISO 14064, the GHG Protocol, and the Bilan Carbone® Method

✅ More than 110 certified experts are available, if needed, to assist users who wish to receive support

✅ Personalized support for implementing its decarbonization strategy

✅ A wide range of carbon offset projects

The Decarbo’Solution® platform (Decarbo’Solution®) enables each of you to develop your own carbon footprint assessment and action plan in full compliance with regulations, tailored to the specific needs of your organization, and at the lowest possible cost.

2️⃣ Involve suppliers in your decarbonization strategy

A decarbonization strategy cannot succeed without the involvement of suppliers. In fact, they account for 50 to 90 percent of an organization’s potential for reducing GHG emissions.

Recognizing the need to align its procurement policy with its low-carbon trajectory, Decarbo’Solution® has developed a tool that offers:

➡️ A “distribution” service: which enables the automatic submission of requests for emission factors to suppliers, as well as the management and tracking of responses

➡️ A tool for analyzing the “carbon footprint” of bids, to prioritize those that can demonstrate a lower carbon footprint associated with their goods or services and thereby implement positive carbon discrimination®.

This active collaboration between companies and their suppliers is a key driver in decarbonizing their operations and continuously improving their Carbon Competitiveness®.

3️⃣ Setting a Low-Carbon Path

It is important to set clear, achievable, and ambitious targets when developing a low-carbon roadmap. Ambition not only demonstrates a genuine, concrete commitment, but also consistently yields rewarding results.

The SBTi pathway encourages companies to set ambitious GHG mitigation targets that are quantified and aligned with their operations. These targets are “science-based,” meaning they are consistent with what climate science deems necessary to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Establishing an SBTi pathway is therefore an effective way for organizations to reduce their emissions while remaining competitive. On the Decarbo’Solution® platform, users can not only define their SBTi pathway but also track its progress over time against their actual results.

With this module, you can quickly check whether your trajectory is in line with the Paris Agreement’s goals and always have tools at your disposal to:

➡️ Track and measure your actions and savings over time

➡️ Simulate the potential impacts of your reduction efforts to make the right decisions

4️⃣ Participate in carbon offset projects

A carbon offset involves financing a project to offset its residual emissions. This is done by purchasing carbon credits, each of which represents one metric ton of GHG emissions avoided as a result of the financed project, compared to a baseline scenario.

Including meaningful carbon offset initiatives in a decarbonization strategy is an excellent way to improve an organization’s carbon footprint. Decarbo’Solution® offers a wide range of certified carbon offset projects, including initiatives with the Low Carbon Label located in France, as well as others certified under the Gold Standard or VCS in Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Since each initiative is aligned with specific Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), organizations can choose the type of initiative that makes the most sense for them based on their activities.

Conducting Your Carbon Assessment/Plan In-House

Internalizing a company's carbon footprint is very appealing because it is both more cost-effective and more flexible. However, while these benefits are important, we must also consider the efforts required.

✅ The Benefits

🟢 Cost:

Conducting a carbon footprint assessment in-house is generally less expensive than having it done by an outside firm. In fact, the company saves money because its only costs are data entry—since emissions factor databases are mostly free, the cost of the online service is always very affordable, and the cost of training employees to use the tool in the first year is also very limited.

🟢 Flexibility:

In-house operations also offer greater flexibility. This allows the company to tailor the process to its own needs and goals. In terms of timing, management, and approach, the company has a great deal of freedom, and the task can be delegated to a “carbon team” that is always highly motivated.

❌ Limitations

Although conducting an internal carbon assessment has many advantages, it also has a number of limitations.

🔴 Lack of expertise:

Although there are training programs that provide the foundational knowledge and skills needed to conduct a carbon footprint assessment, the fact remains that calculating a carbon footprint is a challenging task. As a result, employees responsible for the assessment may encounter difficulties and lack sufficient knowledge—particularly regarding emission factors—which can skew the results. It is therefore important to choose a solution that offers a wealth of online resources, such as videos, tutorials, tooltips, and FAQs, along with a high-quality hotline.

🔴 Limited time and resources:

This exercise may seem a bit time-consuming for teams that are already very busy. It is therefore important to choose a solution that allows the task to be divided among a few employees and that requires only brief, clear training. In the first year, you can also enlist the help of an intern to set up the “data location log,” which will be invaluable for future exercises.

🔴 Higher risk of error:

In-house reporting may raise concerns about the risk of errors or confusion in the selection of emission factors. It is therefore important to choose a solution that provides guidance and clearly explains these decisions in light of the company’s operations, and that offers a reliable hotline and the ability to review and certify the completed report at a reasonable price.

🔴 Achieve certification:

In-house verification may be sufficient, but it can be supplemented by an external, independent review of the results.

Choose an online solution or a service provider

💡Existing Types of Solutions

There are many options for conducting a carbon footprint assessment, whether in-house or outsourced:

👨‍💼 Consulting Firms:

Consulting firms use their expertise to help their clients conduct carbon assessments. They offer data entry and various customized services, which can be quite costly and do not allow the company to take ownership of its action plan or carbon trajectory—unless it continues to engage these consulting services.

Hiring a service provider can pose challenges if the provider does not offer a guarantee of reliability or does not follow recommended and recognized methodologies—factors that are difficult for a company with limited knowledge of the subject to assess.

🧑‍💻 Technology Platforms:

Technology platforms are useful tools for automating the process of accounting for GHG emissions. By centralizing all data on the platform, it becomes easier for the client to implement an effective low-carbon strategy, thanks to the comprehensive overview it provides, which allows the client to see the organization’s total emissions.

It is also the only way to get suppliers on board with your low-carbon strategy, thereby continuously improving your Carbon Competitiveness® and taking full control of your carbon future!

🤝 Create your carbon footprint assessment or plan with Decarbo’Solution® safely

The Decarbo’Solution® platform meets both requirements: autonomy and support from a team of carbon experts.

✅ Demystify the carbon footprint

The Carbon Footprint® has always been presented as a complex concept reserved for experts. However, as awareness of environmental issues has grown, everyone has come to realize that this calculation is accessible to anyone with the right tool or service at their disposal.

Furthermore, the new requirements to account for all indirect emissions make it mandatory for all companies to fully embrace their carbon strategy, as Carbon Competitiveness® is earned every day!

On the Decarbo’Solution® platform, users can master the tools and services needed to define and implement their organization’s decarbonization strategy in just a few hours.

In the first step, using simple questionnaires tailored to their industry— divided into 7 categories that cover all 3 emission sources—users can easily enter their data. Help, explanations, videos, tutorials, tooltips, and tips are provided throughout the data entry process in plain language that requires no specific training.

At the same time, the calculations are performed and the allocation is made automatically across the various regulatory line items for the three scopes.

✅ Make carbon footprint assessments accessible to everyone

Decarbo’Solution® has also made it its mission to make carbon assessments more widely available, ensuring they are accessible to all businesses and organizations, regardless of their size. Pricing is transparent and competitive.

In this way, Decarbo’Solution® promotes greater adoption and accountability among all stakeholders and encourages the adoption of sustainable practices to reduce greenhouse gas emissions overall and preserve our environment for future generations.

✅ The opportunity to receive training and/or support

Some of our users are interested in participating in our supplementary training modules on understanding the fundamentals of climate and energy, as well as GHG inventory methodology. Others prefer more hands-on modules: how to prepare for data collection, and how to track and reduce their GHG emissions using the Decarbo’Solution® platform.

In any case, these training sessions help them develop transferable skills that will enable them to make even better use of the platform’s services and reassure the company that they fully understand the challenges and the solutions to be implemented.

Decarbo’Solution® also brings together a network of more than 110 certified experts from all sectors who provide support to businesses and local governments.

They enable us to provide in-depth on-site support regarding calculation methodologies and international standards, as well as tailored recommendations for reducing emissions by identifying areas for improvement and proposing appropriate solutions.

Conducting your carbon assessment/plan with Decarbo’Solution® guarantees:

✅ the accuracy of the calculations,

✅ regulatory compliance by following recognized methodologies (GHG Protocol, ISO Standard, Bilan Carbone® Method)

✅ the best services for calculating and reducing greenhouse gas emissions

✅ ensuring that its suppliers are on board with its low-carbon strategy

✅ the continuous improvement of its Carbon Competitiveness®, which has become a major challenge for business sustainability and a powerful tool for achieving the drastic reduction in GHG emissions that is imperative and to which everyone must commit.

Mercuroo’s Feedback on Its Use of the Decarbo’Solution® Platform

Bruno Carlier, President of Mercuroo, conducted his carbon footprint assessment using Decarbo’Solution®.

His motivation: “Out of respect for future generations, I feel it is my duty to contribute to the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. To that end, the first step is indeed to measure one’s ‘carbon footprint’ in order to understand and implement strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”

He chose the Decarbo’Solution® platform for four reasons:

✅ It is a standalone and highly functional solution

✅ It's a cost-effective solution for his small business

✅ Its international scope

✅ Its ergonomic and collaborative design, and its online help

By conducting his carbon footprint assessment, Bruno Carlier was able to respond to numerous calls for proposals, which increasingly include environmental criteria. Conducting a carbon footprint assessment thus becomes a competitive advantage for companies that want to remain competitive and stand out from their competitors.

Thank you to Bruno Carlier for trusting us to conduct his Carbon Footprint® assessment on the Decarbo’Solution® platform.