Educate yourself on current issues

1. Understand an organisation’s carbon footprint

How to calculate a carbon footprint?



The greenhouse gases emitted by companies and organisations are partly responsible for climate change. In order to reduce or mitigate these emissions, a methodology must first be devised to measure them. Carbon emissions are usually classified in three categories, also known as scopes.

Scope 1 covers emissions that result directly from the products or services delivered by the company. It encompasses the use of vehicles or, for example, the use of oil or other fuels in a product’s manufacturing cycle.

Scope 2 covers emissions that result indirectly from the company’s activity. It encompasses all the energy used in the on-site production process (the electricity that powers the factories, the use of heating or cooling systems).

Scope 3 encompasses all other indirect emissions that are not linked to on-site production but occur either upstream or downstream of the company’s value chain: the extraction of raw materials, their transport to the factories, and the product’s life cycle, transport and recycling, amongst other things.

Scope 3 emissions account for the biggest proportion of most companies’ carbon footprint. However, it is not compulsory for these emissions to be factored into carbon reporting.

The following infographic show examples of a company’s carbon footprint, divided by scope and industrial sector.



Investigate further

Climate Action Network-France (RAC) has analysed data from the compulsory greenhouse gas emission assessments and carbon reporting of 20 French companies active on a global scale to determine whether indirect emissions are taken into account in reporting and setting potential climate targets.

The goal is to underline the importance of the data selected to be included in a company’s carbon reporting. Take an international bank, for example: if the bank’s total emissions were calculated to include the emissions linked to all the activities it finances, the bank alone would be responsible for a third of French territorial emissions. Compared to this total, the direct emissions resulting from the running of the bank’s offices and the travel undertaken by its employees account for less than 1% of all emissions.

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2. Look into your organisation’s environmental strategy

Call your CSR/Sustainable development department

Calling your Corporate Social Responsibility department is the most direct way to learn more about any concrete action your company may be undertaking.

Carbon reporting index

Browse the assessment reports published by French companies

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)

An international initiative designed to measure the progress achieved in corporate sustainable development programmes. Their database includes reports from several major French groups.

Sustainable development reports

A sustainable development report is an official document – often published every year – in which an organisation details the efforts and outcomes it has achieved in responding to societal challenges. Issues relating to the climate and the environment are often present. Type the following keywords into your search engine to find the relevant document: “name of your organisation”, “sustainable development”, “responsibility” and “report”.

Carbon Disclosure Project

The Carbon Disclosure Project is an international NGO that publishes reports and notes on how the world’s biggest companies integrate climate issues into their corporate strategy.

3. Look into existing networks

UN Global Compact

The Global Compact is a voluntary commitment framework built on ten principles in the fields of human rights, labour rights, environmental rights, and the fight against corruption.
This page allows you to access local networks by country.

4. Look into existing standards and certifications

Social responsibility - ISO 26000

This standard provides a framework for corporate social responsibility.

Environmental Standard Certification – ISO 14001

This standard sets a number of criteria to which a company’s environmental management system must adhere with the aim of improving its performance as regards environmental protection.