Carbon
A carbon module,not a checkbox.
Most ESG platforms compute one Scope 1+2 number and call it carbon. This one holds multi-site perimeters, a maintained emission factor library, three interchangeable accounting standards over the same activity data, and a reduction plan each action is actually owned in.
What it does
Scopes 1, 2 and 3
Full value chain by default, not an optional extra. In manufacturing, purchased goods and capital goods routinely carry seventy to eighty-five per cent of the total.
Multi-site perimeters
A footprint per site, rolled up per company and per fund. Activity data is entered by whoever holds the meter readings, not funnelled through one person.
Your own emission factors
Base Empreinte for standard factors, plus supplier-specific ones where a company has them. Factors are stored against the activity data, so an update recomputes rather than invalidates.
Reduction plan
Each action carries an owner, a cost and an abatement estimate. Next year's report shows the movement rather than restating the ambition.
A versioned factor library
Base Empreinte arrives as dated releases, not a silent table. You adopt a new version when you choose to, and a published footprint keeps the version it was computed on — so last year does not move while you are not looking.
Every line states its own quality
Each activity entry carries a completeness and a reliability qualifier alongside the number, and the factor it was bound to is snapshotted onto it. A footprint says how solid it is instead of presenting one confident total.
Carbon methodology
Same activity data. A €6.5m production line is spread across its eight-year payback, so 1 310 tCO₂e land this year instead of 10 480.
How a footprint gets built
- 01 · Setup
Set the perimeter
Sites, legal entities and the reporting year. A footprint per site rolls up per company and per fund without anyone re-adding it.
- 02 · Collection
Gather activity data
Litres, kilometres, kilowatt-hours, euros spent — entered by whoever holds the invoices and the meter readings.
- 03 · Computation
Choose the standard
Bilan Carbone, GHG Protocol or ISO 14064 applied as a lens. Switching recomputes every existing footprint, prior years included.
- 04 · Action
Build the reduction plan
Each action gets an owner, a cost and an abatement estimate, so next year's report shows movement rather than intention.
Three standards, one dataset
| Bilan Carbone | GHG Protocol | ISO 14064-1 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Structure | Three scopes | Three scopes | Six categories |
| Capital goods | Amortised over payback | Full at purchase | Amortised |
| Scope 3 | Mandatory | Optional in principle | By significance threshold |
| Typical driver | BEGES obligation | International LPs, CSRD | Third-party verification |
Switching the workspace standard recomputes every existing footprint on the same activity data, prior years included, so year-on-year comparison survives the change.
The regulation behind this
Written for someone who has to comply with it, not to rank for its name.
Where this differs
Most tools fix one accounting standard when you sign.
Three sit over the same activity data as a lens. Switching recomputes every footprint you have already published, prior years included, so a change of standard is not a restatement project.
Most tools ship one emission-factor table and update it underneath you.
Factor releases are dated and adopted deliberately. A footprint keeps the version it was computed on, which is the difference between a comparable series and a moving baseline.
Most tools treat Scope 3 as a manual annex and report one confident total.
Scope 3 is on by default — in manufacturing it is usually seventy to eighty-five per cent of the answer — and every line carries a completeness and reliability qualifier, so the number arrives with its own caveats attached.
“We already pay a consultant for the bilan carbone.”
And the consultant produces a good PDF, once. What you do not get is the activity data in a form you can rerun next year, a methodology you can switch without restating by hand, or a footprint per portfolio company that consolidates. Keep the consultant for the hard judgement calls — the arithmetic should not need re-buying annually.
Measure once, report three ways.
Thirty minutes on your actual portfolio, and we will tell you what the first footprint would realistically cost you in effort.