What is carbon footprinting?

It is an assessment of the quantity of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted (or captured) into the atmosphere over one year by the activities of an organisation or an area. CO2 is just one of the many gases taken into account: methane, fluids, refrigerants, nitrous oxide, etc.

Methodology

ADEME, the French Agency for Ecological Transition, has developed a carbon footprinting tool. The first step is to define its scope:

Define the organisational scope: which parts of the organisation are concerned?
Define the operational scope: what emissions are taken into account?
Set emissions factors or monetary ratios: determine the mass of CO2, equivalent to the GHG emissions linked to an activity, to the amount of purchases.

Legal Framework

According to decree no. n° 2022-982 of 1 July 2022, a regulatory GHG emissions report is compulsory for government departments, legal entities under private law with more than 500 employees in mainland France and more than 250 employees in overseas territories; legal entities under public law with more than 250 employees; and local authorities and their groupings. The full report (scopes 1, 2 and 3) has been compulsory since 1 January 2023.
Failure to comply could result in a fine of €10,000.