Dividing national emissions by 6 is necessary to achieve carbon neutrality in France in 2050.
From this perspective, it is crucial that economic actors carry out a greenhouse gas assessment (commonly called carbon assessment) in order to know in which direction(s) to direct their efforts.
Regulatory carbon footprint or BEGES
In France, BEGES designates the regulatory carbon footprint to which various actors have been subject by law since 2010.
1. Organizational scope
The first step consists of defining the organizational scope, that is to say, determining the sites, installations and skills taken into account to carry out the carbon footprint of a given organization.
2. Operational scope: scopes 1, 2, 3?
The spectrum of a carbon footprint is more or less broad depending on the categories of emissions it includes.
There are three categories of emissions, or scopes 1, 2 and 3, which bring together the different positions (or sources) of emissions.
- Scope 1 covers direct emissions linked to the organization's activity, produced in particular by the fossil energy consumption of the buildings and vehicles that constitute its assets.
- Scope 2 designates indirect emissions linked to the consumption of secondary energy , such as electricity, heat, steam or cold.
- Scope 3 includes all other indirect emissions , which for example come from the purchases of products or services and the commuting of the organization's employees.
The regulatory assessment only includes scopes 1 and 2.
If scope 3 is optional, Ademe urges all those required to take it into account.
For what ? Because due to the multitude of emissions positions it covers, it often represents more than 70% of the carbon footprint of a given organization.
- Scope 1 will cover the building's primary energy consumption linked to heating, domestic hot water and the fuel consumption of its vehicle fleet, to which will be added emissions caused by the use of anesthetic gases.
- Scope 2 will account for emissions from the production of the electricity it consumes .
- Scope 3 will include emissions attributable to the manufacture and transport of medicines as well as computer/medical equipment, the home-work journeys of its staff, but also the travel of users who come for treatment.
We can clearly see that without scope 3, the assessment is incomplete. The reduction avenues it opens up are limited.
As an indication, to improve its carbon footprint on the basis of a regulatory assessment, the hospital could renovate its boiler or possibly switch from oil heating to electric heating (electricity being largely carbon-free in France).
But it will not be able to say whether some of its suppliers are very polluting, nor will it be able to consider a strategy to reduce emissions linked to the journeys of its staff or users.
To have an exhaustive assessment, reporting on an activity in all its aspects, and in particular the upstream and downstream of the value chain in which it is located, it is therefore strongly recommended to integrate scope 3 into the scope. operational.
3. Emission stations in scopes 1, 2, 3
Here is a table listing the 23 emissions positions, classified by scope:
| SCOPE 1 | Direct GHG emissions |
| 1 | Direct emissions from stationary combustion sources |
| 2 | Direct emissions from mobile sources with thermal engines |
| 3 | Direct emissions from non-energy processes |
| 4 | Fugitive direct emissions |
| 5 | Emissions from biomass (soils and forests) |
| SCOPE 2 | Indirect energy-related emissions |
| 6 | Indirect emissions linked to electricity consumption |
| 7 | Indirect emissions linked to the consumption of steam, heat or cold |
| SCOPE 3 | Other indirect GHG emissions |
| 8 | Energy-related emissions not included in the “direct GHG emissions” and “indirect energy GHG emissions” categories |
| 9 | Purchases of products and services |
| 10 | Immobilization of assets |
| 11 | Waste |
| 12 | Upstream freight transport |
| 13 | Business travel |
| 14 | Upstream leasing assets |
| 15 | Investments |
| 16 | Transportation of visitors and customers |
| 17 | Transport of downstream goods |
| 18 | Use of products sold |
| 19 | End of products sold |
| 20 | Downstream franchise |
| 21 | Downstream leasing |
| 22 | Travel to work |
| 23 | Other indirect emissions |
