Criterion E.1 - Compliance of messages conveyed on the carbon accounting approach

The Association pour la transition Bas Carbone is committed to promoting a vision of carbon accounting resolutely oriented toward action and GHG management within an organisation, in order to reduce the vulnerability of business models to transition risks. To this end, ABC advocates a carbon accounting approach conceived as a structuring process within organisations as well as a carbon accounting approach centred on physical data, the only means of successfully carrying out an effective low-carbon transition.

For this reason, candidate tools are expected to be aligned with this vision. Messages such as "automatic carbon assessments", "carbon assessments in 3 clicks", etc., or solutions promoting a financial approach (i.e. based on reading accounting entries) are incompatible with the vision of carbon accounting promoted by ABC.

For tools intended for projects or products, it is expected that they emphasise the value of carbon accounting as a means of designing lower-emission alternatives.

The Association pour la transition Bas Carbone advocates a discourse aimed at presenting carbon accounting as a transition tool, and the Bilan Carbone® as a low-carbon transition approach. These issues are presented in the Communication Guide on Carbon Accounting, which serves as the reference document for compliant tools through their signing of the Carbon Accounting Communication Charter.

Use of the Bilan Carbone® brand in the context of a compliant tool

The Association pour la transition Bas Carbone is committed to developing the Bilan Carbone® brand, created by ADEME in 2004 and carried by ABC since 2011, with the aim of maintaining it as a mark of quality for low-carbon transition approaches.

The specific objectives and principles of the Bilan Carbone® are as follows:

• Mobilise the internal and external stakeholders of the organisation in a transition approach, through awareness-raising, accountability, co-construction and reporting of the transformations enabled by the transition plan
• Account for the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the organisation as rigorously and exhaustively as possible, whether direct or indirect, covering the organisation's spheres of responsibility and dependency
• Develop an ambitious, manageable, operational transition and GHG emissions reduction plan, addressing the organisation's vulnerabilities and consistent with the emissions accounting.

To date, the Bilan Carbone® brand encompasses all associated methods, training programmes and tools.

As a tool candidate for Bilan Carbone® compliance, it is therefore necessary to fully align with the ecosystem of this brand and to respect its principles.

As previously indicated in this referential, the use of a tool compliant with the Bilan Carbone® method, or an ABC tool, is essential for carrying out a Bilan Carbone®.

However, it is important to bear in mind that the use of a tool compliant with the Bilan Carbone® method is not a sufficient condition to ensure that a Bilan Carbone® has been carried out.

→ The BEGES-r produced using a compliant tool must be managed by a person trained in the Bilan Carbone® method and must meet the quality criteria of the Bilan Carbone® method in order to be entitled to the Bilan Carbone® designation.

Criterion

Mandatory	Criterion E.1 - Compliance of messages communicated about the carbon accounting approach
Question	Are the communications and positions taken by the candidate tool on carbon accounting in line with the vision held by the Association pour la transition Bas Carbone as presented in the Communication Guide on Carbon Accounting?
Answers	Yes, safeguards are in place to validate the use of the term Bilan Carbone® for a BEGES-r and the communications and positions are compliant Yes, the communications and positions are compliant with ABC's philosophy Yes, for the most part, but some misleading/confusing messages remain No
Implementation guidance	Analyse the messages communicated within the tool and on websites, blogs, social media and press articles discussing the candidate tool Verify the presence of elements or steps enabling validation of the use of the Bilan Carbone® brand Look for the presence of a system or verification step to assess the quality of a BEGES-r prior to validating the use of the term Bilan Carbone®