LCA vs. Carbon Footprint: what’s the difference? Discover two key tools for measuring and reducing the carbon impact of a company or product.
When discussing a company's environmental impact, two terms often come up: the Carbon Footprint and the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Although they share similar goals—understanding and reducing greenhouse gas emissions—they focus on different scales and scopes.
Conducting a Carbon Footprint allows you to measure the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions generated by a company. It is a key first step for any business looking to start an eco-friendly initiative to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.
Conducting a Carbon Footprint is primarily about measuring your company's carbon footprint to calculate the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions generated by its activities. This process is based on a rigorous Carbon Footprint method, which serves as an essential carbon diagnostic to measure your carbon impact and drive a reduction strategy.
Among the calculation steps, it is fundamental to define the organizational and operational scope: which entities, activities, and flows should be included? Next, emissions are categorized into three scopes:
- Scope 1: direct emissions (e.g., fuel combustion on-site, company vehicles).
- Scope 2: indirect emissions related to energy (e.g., electricity, district heating).
- Scope 3: all other indirect emissions (e.g., purchases, business travel, freight, product usage, end-of-life, etc.).
Scope 3 is often the most significant and requires a detailed approach to calculate your Carbon Footprint accurately.
Once the scope is defined, the next step is to collect relevant activity data (quantities purchased, kilometers traveled, kWh consumed, etc.), known as consumption data. This data is then converted into GHG emissions using emission factors from recognized databases like ADEME's Base Carbone®.
To ensure calculation reliability, the analysis relies on an appropriate measurement tool that complies with the ADEME methodology. At Altopi, we use Orki, a carbon accounting software connected to the Base Carbone, which acts as an emissions simulator and a powerful carbon footprint calculator. This reporting platform allows you to centralize data, track emission trends, and ensure a rigorous, actionable assessment that complies with current standards.
The Greenhouse Gas Emissions Assessment (BEGES), more commonly known as a GHG assessment, is a mandatory carbon footprint requirement for certain organizations in France. It falls under the environmental regulations stemming from the Grenelle Law, and its requirements are reinforced by European frameworks like the CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive).
Mandated by the Environmental Code (Article L.229-25), this GHG assessment is mandatory for:
- companies with more than 500 employees in mainland France (250 in overseas territories)
- local authorities with more than 50,000 inhabitants and certain public institutions.
The assessment must cover at least Scopes 1 and 2 (direct emissions and those related to energy consumption) and be accompanied by a carbon transition plan. This plan details the methods, resources, and actions implemented to reduce the company's carbon footprint.
Finally, the emissions declaration must be published on the ADEME website to ensure transparency and demonstrate compliance with regulatory obligations.
The Bilan Carbone® is a registered trademark of ADEME, designating a broader methodology that integrates all three scopes, including Scope 3 (indirect emissions related to purchasing, transport, product usage, etc.).
It is based on a more exhaustive and strategic analysis of emissions. Scope 3, often the largest source of emissions, is central to this process.
It is often used as part of a CSR strategy, decarbonization effort, or strategic regulatory anticipation.
The benefits of a Carbon Assessment for a company go far beyond simple regulatory compliance:
- Ensure compliance with regulations, particularly for companies with over 500 employees, and meet the growing requirements of the CSRD.
- Identify your main emission sources to implement concrete emission reduction actions and achieve cost savings (e.g., energy efficiency)
- Anticipate carbon-related economic risks: rising raw material costs, taxation, and pressure from clients or partners.
- Improve your brand image by highlighting your environmental commitment to clients, investors, and employees.
- Benefit from grants or public funding available to companies committed to low-carbon transition initiatives.
- Strengthen internal awareness by mobilizing teams around a shared, responsible ecological project.
Note: A Carbon Assessment is valid for 4 years for companies and 3 years for public entities.
More than just a report, the Carbon Assessment is a strategic management tool that helps steer your business toward a leaner, more resilient, and sustainable model.
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Conducting a carbon footprint assessment is an essential first step: it helps you identify where, how, and how much greenhouse gas (GHG) your company emits. The logical next step is to take action. Here is how to turn this diagnostic into concrete emission reductions and align your company with the national low-carbon strategy.
Based on the results of your carbon footprint, build a transition plan that sets progressive reduction targets aligned with the trajectories recommended by the national strategy. This plan will be your guide for prioritizing actions to reduce the impact of your operations.
The main levers for action depend on your business, but some are essential:
- Improve the energy efficiency of your buildings, equipment, and processes (renovation, optimization, and conservation).
- Reduce emissions from purchasing by favoring local, eco-friendly suppliers or by revising your procurement criteria.
- Optimize logistics and mobility by consolidating deliveries, promoting green or electric transport, and limiting unnecessary travel.
- Eco-design your products or services by extending their lifespan and reducing their footprint throughout their entire lifecycle.
Reducing emissions also requires a cultural shift. By training and engaging your employees in your initiative, you make it easier to adopt good habits daily and encourage internal ideas for improvement.
Some emissions are difficult to eliminate immediately. You can offset them through carbon sequestration projects, such as:
- planting forests or protecting natural areas (natural carbon sinks),
- funding regenerative agriculture or renewable energy projects.
Carbon offsetting does not replace reduction, but it complements your efforts as part of a responsible approach.
The climate won't stabilize with a one-off effort. Emission reduction must be part of a continuous process, with regular monitoring, clear KPIs, and annual adjustments to your transition plan.
A product carbon footprint or carbon score is based on a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). This is a standardized method (ISO 14040/44) that evaluates the environmental impacts of a product or service throughout its entire lifecycle: from raw material extraction to end-of-life (recycling, incineration, landfilling, etc.).
It’s a multi-criteria approach (water, biodiversity, resources, etc.) that can also be used specifically to calculate a product’s Carbon Score.
The Carbon Score represents the greenhouse gas emissions generated by a product or service throughout its entire life cycle. To calculate it, we follow the standard LCA steps:
- Define the scope of the product (which life cycle stages are included?).
- Collect data on inputs (materials, energy, transport, etc.).
- Assign emissions associated with each stage using environmental databases (Ecoinvent, Agribalyse, etc.).
- Interpret the results to identify the biggest emission sources and guide eco-design choices.
Measuring a product’s Carbon Score helps you:
- Understand and reduce your environmental footprint at the most granular level.
- Meet the growing demands of consumers and clients who are increasingly focused on product impact.
- Stand out in your market by highlighting a more responsible product.
- Prepare for upcoming regulatory requirements, particularly regarding the CSRD directive or environmental labeling.
Carbon Footprints and LCAs are therefore complementary: one provides a macro view, the other a micro view. Together, they allow you to take action at every level to identify GHG emission sources for both the company and its products/services, reduce them significantly, and build a business truly committed to the ecological transition.
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