Carbon footprint
What is a carbon footprint?
The carbon footprint is a tool for understanding direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions by analyzing the activities of individuals, businesses, local authorities and government bodies. The carbon footprint comprises 6 gases, according to a method whose rules are public and officially recognized by international agreements:
- carbon dioxide or CO2
- methane
- nitrous oxide
- hydrofluorocarbon
- perfluorocarbon
- sulfur hexafluoride
Measures concerning companies
You're a company and don't know whether you should carry out a carbon footprint?
Since July 2010, the mandatory Grenelle II carbon footprint, also known as the Bilan Carbone Grenelle II, has required a Bilan GES Réglementairefor certain structures (public or private).
- Private-sector companies with more than 500 employees (250 in overseas territories)
- Public-sector establishments with more than 250 employees
- Local authorities (urban communities, départements, regions, etc.) with populations in excess of 50,000.
- The State
Since 2015, the law on energy transition has indicated that companies must carry out this assessment every 4 years. Government departments, local authorities and other public establishments, on the other hand, must do so every 3 years.
If you don't play the game of doing your carbon footprint, a penalty of €1,500 has been in place since January 2016.
The carbon footprint not only includes an accounting of emissions, but also a summary of the measures decided upon and actions taken to reduce emissions.
To achieve a good CSR policy, here are some tips and examples on this article !
NEWS: Worldwide, according to IPCC data, the main contributors to CO2 emissions are :
- Heat and power generation (25%)
- Agriculture, forestry and land use (24%)
- Industry (21%)
- Transport (14%)
- Other energy production (10%)
- Buildings (6%)
Carbon footprint and mobility
Road traffic and CO2
1.2 billion: The number of cars in the world today.
2 billion: The estimated number of cars in the world in 2040.
In China, the number of cars increased 5-fold between 2004 and 2014. Cities are already very congested, given the number of traffic jams that already exist... it's hard to imagine the situation with 800 million more vehicles!
Carmakers claim that the solution to thiscarbon footprint problem is electric and hybrid cars, which consume 10% to 50% less fuel than gasoline-powered cars.
Some figures in 2018:
- 2 million electric cars have already been sold, bringing the global fleet to 5 million.
- 1 million in China
- 385,000 in Europe
- 361,000 in the United States
But 5 million electric cars means just 0.4% of the world's cars on the road! There's still a long way to go...
Although we are succeeding in producing less polluting vehicles, emissions are not decreasing, as the number of cars and their characteristics (power, size, air conditioning, etc.) continue to increase. What's more, in 2018, 36% of new vehicles purchased in France were SUVs or 4×4s, which consume more fuel and emit more CO2.
However, optimism for heavy goods vehicles is not very strong! Road freight (the transport of goods by road) continues to grow with the rise of e-commerce! It's also a major cause of pollution, since commercial vehicles and heavy goods vehicles, most of which run on diesel, account for just 21.5% of road traffic, but release 43% of the sector's greenhouse gas emissions...
In France, 88% of goods are still transported by road, compared with only 10% by rail and 2% by ship.
It is estimated that in Paris, one vehicle in five carries parcels for delivery... For more information, click here. here !
Bad French habits
In your opinion, which sector in France emits the most greenhouse gases?
Bingo, it's transport ...
Transport accounted for 31% of emissions in 2018, 10% more than in 1990. Road traffic accounts for 95% of transport emissions.
To know more
- The preferred means of transport in France is the car, and there are 40 million cars in the country.
- ¾ of home-to-work journeys are made by car, alone.
- In the city, 40% of daily car journeys are less than 3 km long... (and are 2 times more polluting than a long journey). We consume more fuel over shorter distances because the engine is cold, and we regularly stop and restart...
- In 2017, 61% of vehicles on the road were diesel (emitting more fine particles than a petrol vehicle).
- In 2016, fine particles emitted by transport caused 48,000 premature deaths in France. It's the 3rd leading cause of death after tobacco and alcohol.
Benefit from the expertise of Beev Consulting and make the right choice of vehicles when renewing your fleet. Beev will support you in your transition to cleaner vehicles, while taking into account your company's economic reality.
ADEME mobilized in the transport sector
ADEME is also working on the transport sector, which is the most polluting.
For this purpose
- It supports the development of cars that consume less fuel and pollute less.
- It contributes to a sustainable transport organization
- It encourages changes in behavior: greater use of mobility services, active modes of transport, public transport and clean vehicles.
The goal
- accelerate the deployment of the transition
- innovating and preparing the future of the ecological and energy transition
- contribute to collective expertise for the transition.
To achieve its objectives, ADEME has allocated €647 million in 2019 for projects in favor of the ecological transition. These projects are listed across 12 priority programs and in favor of 3 targets: businesses, the territory and the general public.
Business grew strongly because the results were there: "Of the 27 indicators in ADEME's 2016-2019 Contract of Objectives and Performance, 24 met or exceeded the target set, including the equivalent of 390,000 homes heated with renewable energy, nearly 95,000 refuse trucks of new sorting-recycling-recovery capacity, or 70% of the population covered by support contracts." - ADEME
INFO: Cars are sometimes even more polluting than planes.
According to a report by the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME), a single motorist in a car emits 172g of CO2 for every kilometer traveled, whereas a passenger on a Paris-Marseille flight (660 km) emits 132g, a quarter less!
On an airplane, emissions are shared between the different passengers. The fuller the plane, the lower the emissions per passenger. In cars, increasing the number of passengers is also a way of reducing emissions per person.
Solutions for reducing your carbon footprint
To reduce your carbon footprint, you first need to know about it! That's where Dunia comes in. It's a platform that allows us to calculate our carbon footprint by detailing our expenses, but not only! It also gives us tips on how to reduce our ecological impact. If everyone, in their own small way, applied a few responsible gestures on a daily basis, ourcarbon footprint could beconsiderablyreduced!
- switch to electric or hydrogen motors
- develop carpooling and car-sharing
- increase taxes on polluting vehicles and heavy goods vehicles
- developing public transport in the city, making it more accessible or free of charge
- develop local rail lines (to limit air and car travel)
- create a large number of safe bicycle paths
- rethinking city organization
- introduce a tax on airline tickets and kerosene for short-haul journeys
- limit ship speed: halving ship speed means consuming four times less fuel.
- encourage teleworking to reduce commuting
- make our journeys more frugal
- local consumption, development of recycling, upcycling... (to reduce road freight)
To know more
According to a study by Greenly, by using a bicycle or public transport for these office journeys, for example, we save the carbon equivalent of 650 kg of CO2 per year and per person, or the equivalent of 4 round-trips from Paris to Marseille by plane, or an LCD screen TV turned on H24 for 162 days.
Conclusion
L'voir conditions) every 3 or 4 years and to measure the efforts made on the commitments decided at the time theTake advantage of the expertise of Beev Consulting and make the right choice of vehicles when renewing your fleet. Beev can help you make the transition to cleaner vehicles, while taking into account your company's economic reality.
