Context of the referential

The low-carbon transition remains as urgent as ever to initiate. The consequences of global warming and the energy crisis demonstrate the need to reduce our GHG emissions and our dependence on fossil fuels. To this end, and in order to adapt as closely as possible to the specificities of their sectors of activity (whether for carrying out assessments or managing GHG emissions), an increasing number of organizations (particularly large groups) are creating carbon accounting tools tailored to their business areas.

On a more modest scale, many economic actors such as SMEs and mid-sized companies are still far removed from the issue of reducing GHG emissions and, more broadly, from the transition towards a sustainable economic model. A great many SMEs and mid-sized companies have still not begun to undertake a carbon accounting approach, whether ambitious or introductory. Thus, in order to "reach out" to these actors (particularly those not subject to or not compliant with the regulations), numerous digital solutions of the software as a service (SaaS) type have emerged, with the aim of democratizing carbon accounting and raising awareness of the challenges of the low-carbon transition.

Finally, just over a year after the launch of the new Bilan Carbone® 2025 method, ABC continues to carry out methodological work in order to strengthen the quality of carbon accounting practice while always seeking to engage an ever-greater number of organizations in the low-carbon transition.

This is why, in light of these various factors, an update to the analysis referential for compliance procedures with the Bilan Carbone® method has become necessary. The referential presented in this document therefore specifies the rules and conditions for validating the compliance of the above-mentioned tools with the Bilan Carbone® method. The scope of this referential is detailed below.

Nota Bene: Compliance with the Bilan Carbone® method aims to guarantee the consistency of the means made available in the candidate tool with the Bilan Carbone® methodology. Compliance with the Bilan Carbone® method (associated with the Bilan Carbone® Conform logo) guarantees in particular that, given equal data, the results arising from the use of the candidate tool are similar to those that would be obtained with the Bilan Carbone® tools (the Bilan Carbone® V9.0 and later Excel spreadsheets and the Bilan Carbone® + web tool).

However, compliance with the Bilan Carbone® method of a "carbon accounting" tool does not guarantee the consistency of the data entered by the user: the nature of the results and the quality of the approach remain the sole responsibility of the user and/or the approach leader, and may be subject to an additional assessment carried out by a certified assessor using the Assessment Guide for carbon assessments.

To ensure the quality of the Bilan Carbone® approach carried out according to the 2025 method, an organization must always meet two prerequisites before launching: 1. Use a Bilan Carbone® tool (provided by ABC) or a tool compliant with the Bilan Carbone® method 2. The assessment must be led by a person, internal or external, trained in the Bilan Carbone® 2025 method, who will be responsible for ensuring proper compliance with all of the method's criteria.

Use of the trademark

The logo below may be used by the candidate tool, only in the event that the latter is deemed compliant with the Bilan Carbone® method at the conclusion of the audit conducted by ABC and the external auditor. The use of this logo is valid for the compliance period set at 2 years.