--- title: "Bilan Carbone® providers:\nwho can help, and at what cost" description: "For a Bilan Carbone®, an SME can use a consultancy, a platform with a consultant, software or a trained employee. The stages and the price of each route." canonical: https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/bilan-carbone-providers-who-can-help/ author: "Guillaume Pakula" datePublished: 2026-11-06 dateModified: 2026-11-06 language: en translationOf: https://projetcelsius.com/blog/bilan-carbone-qui-peut-vous-aider/ --- # Bilan Carbone® providers: who can help, and at what cost **Author**: Guillaume Pakula **Published**: 2026-11-06 **Section**: Practical guide **Canonical URL**: https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/bilan-carbone-providers-who-can-help/ **French original**: https://projetcelsius.com/blog/bilan-carbone-qui-peut-vous-aider/ **Source**: Projet Celsius (https://projetcelsius.com/en/), a climate strategy consultancy of engineers and PhDs based in Paris and Marseille. > To carry out a Bilan Carbone®, a company can get help from **a consultancy**, **a platform with a consultant**, **software**, its chartered accountant, or train an employee. The French State puts an SME assessment at **around €10,000** with a consultancy and **€2,000 to €5,000** on a platform, and the Diag Décarbon'Action brings the bill down to **€6,000 excl. VAT** below 500 employees. The choice depends on what the assessment has to prove, and to whom. ## Key takeaways - A consultancy **sets the boundary and builds the action plan** together with the company. - With software, **data collection** is still left to the company's internal team to do. - Below 500 employees, **the Diag Décarbon'Action** leaves €6,000 excl. VAT for the company to pay. - The regulatory assessment is still due **above 500 employees**, despite the scaled-back CSRD. > **Who writes this article?** Projet Celsius, which writes this article, is one of the providers compared. Each one is described from its public pages as at 6 November 2026, and none has paid to appear here. A customer asks for your **Bilan Carbone®** (the French carbon accounting method), or a call for tenders scores it: the first question is who will do it. The assessment measures an organisation's greenhouse gas emissions across its 3 scopes, then leads to **a plan to reduce them**. It is carried out in 5 stages, from setting the boundary to annual monitoring, and **6 types of provider** handle all or part of it. Below 500 employees, the Diag Décarbon'Action (a Bpifrance-subsidised carbon footprint programme for companies established in France) funds **40% of a supported assessment**. [Our eligibility test](https://projetcelsius.com/en/tools/diag-decarbon-action-eligibility/) tells you in 30 seconds whether your company qualifies. ## Is a Bilan Carbone® mandatory in 2026? [Directive (EU) 2026/470](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32026L0470), known as the Omnibus directive and published on 26 February 2026, now limits European sustainability reporting under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) to companies with **more than 1,000 employees** and €450 million in turnover. It **does not affect the French regulatory assessment**, and **other requests remain**: those of buyers, customers and banks. For SMEs, the European Commission has recommended a voluntary reporting standard since July 2025, the [VSME](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32025H1710): its basic module asks for **scope 1 and 2 emissions**, and large companies are invited to refer to it when they question their suppliers. ### The regulatory BEGES and the voluntary Bilan Carbone® [Article L229-25 of the French Environmental Code](https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/article_lc/LEGIARTI000039369665) requires an emissions report, the BEGES (bilan d'émissions de gaz à effet de serre), France's mandatory greenhouse gas emissions report, from companies with **more than 500 employees** (250 in overseas France) and from public bodies with more than 250 staff. It is published with **a transition plan**, **every 4 years** for a company. Failure to comply exposes the company to a fine of up to **€50,000**, and €100,000 for a repeat offence, as set out in our [guide to the mandatory BEGES](https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/beges-france-mandatory-ghg-report/). The **Bilan Carbone®**, by contrast, is a method: created in 2004 by ADEME (the French Agency for Ecological Transition) and [maintained since 2011 by the ABC](https://abc-transitionbascarbone.fr/agir/la-methode-bilan-carbone/), it is applied **on a voluntary basis**, by any organisation, and it is also used to produce a BEGES. ### Public buyers and customers Since 21 August 2026, every new public contract carries **an environmental performance condition** and, if bids are scored, **at least one environmental criterion**, as [Service Public Entreprendre](https://entreprendre.service-public.gouv.fr/actualites/A19042) pointed out on 18 August 2026. A company that **quantifies its emissions and its actions** has what it needs to [respond to this criterion](https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/public-procurement-environmental-criterion-how-to-respond/). In the private sector, the [CDP](https://www.cdp.net/en/supply-chain) supply chain programme contacted **more than 45,000 suppliers** in 2025 on behalf of more than 200 large buyers, and a [customer asking for your carbon data](https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/customer-carbon-data-request/) expects **figures you can justify**. ### Banks and internal management Some banks link **part of their lending to carbon**: the decarbonisation loan from [La Banque Postale](https://www.labanquepostale.fr/entreprises/actualite/2026/simon-letourneau-le-bilan-carbone.html) requires **a carbon footprint assessment and a reduction pathway**, and **reduces the rate** if the company meets its targets. For senior management, finally, the assessment is a way to **choose where to act**: it shows the emission categories that weigh most, often in [scope 3](https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/scope-3-emissions-guide/), and it quantifies the levers of a [reduction plan](https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/how-to-reduce-company-carbon-footprint/). > The scaling back of the CSRD affects neither the regulatory assessment of large companies nor the environmental criterion in public contracts. ## How much of the assessment can software do? Part of the work **always falls to the company**, whether it is supported or not. The **energy bills**, the general ledger, the fleet records and the purchases are held by the company, and its own team gathers them. What can be done alone then depends on one condition: **a person trained in the method** who has time to devote to it. ### The calculation and annual monitoring Carbon accounting software applies emission factors to the data it is given, sorts the results **by emission category and by scope**, then tracks the following years. It produces **a first figure quickly**, and it makes **annual monitoring** easy. Mission Transition Écologique, the French public service that supports companies, puts an assessment [carried out on a platform](https://mission-transition-ecologique.beta.gouv.fr/projets-entreprise/bilan-ges) at **€2,000 to €5,000**, against **around €10,000** with a consultancy for an SME. ### The boundary, the data and the plan Software sets neither **the boundary**, nor **the data quality**, nor **the plan**. These are the situations that **most often go beyond a team working alone**: - A first assessment, when nobody in-house has yet decided which sites, entities and scope 3 categories to include, or the reference year. - Purchases recorded in euros, converted with monetary ratios that will never show the gain from switching supplier or material. - Supplier data received through questionnaires, which must be [checked before it is included](https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/verify-supplier-emissions-data/), at the risk of distorting the emission categories that weigh most. - An action plan to defend before senior management or a customer, with a quantified saving in tCO2e, a cost and an owner for each lever. Our article on [doing the assessment yourself](https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/do-your-own-bilan-carbone-cost/) sets out the stages of this route, and the comparison of [software and consultancy](https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/carbon-accounting-software-vs-consultancy/) helps you choose. A customer who asks you to explain the figure expects **a written boundary and an action plan**, which a total on its own does not give. ## What happens without a reliable assessment? The risk **depends on why** the assessment is requested. For a company under the obligation, it is first of all **the fine**: the regional prefect serves formal notice to publish, then may impose a penalty of **up to €50,000** (€100,000 for a repeat offence). For all other companies, the risk is **commercial**. - A public tender scored lower, because the bid says nothing measured about the company's emissions or its reduction actions. - A large customer's questionnaire left unanswered, or filled in with figures the company cannot justify when the buyer asks about the method. - An assessment that has to be redone 2 years later, for lack of calculation files, dated factors and written assumptions to update it. - An action plan without figures, which makes it impossible either to track progress or to answer a bank that finances the transition. An assessment that is going to leave the company **benefits from a review**: our article on [verifying an in-house assessment](https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/in-house-carbon-footprint-third-party-verification/) explains when an outside review becomes necessary. ## Which providers carry out a Bilan Carbone®? 6 types of provider carry out Bilan Carbone® assessments, from **large climate strategy consultancies**, which serve groups, to **a trained in-house team**. What sets them apart most is setting the boundary and the action plan, which software leaves to the company. ### Large climate strategy consultancies [Carbone 4](https://www.carbone4.com/), founded in 2007, offers carbon footprint and transition plan services, strategy, adaptation and life cycle assessment. It has offices in Paris, Lyon, Toulouse, Rennes and the Benelux. It builds bespoke data collection templates and hands over a management tool for tracking emissions independently. It publishes **no prices** and mainly serves organisations whose assessment commits **a group strategy**. ### Consultancies for SMEs and mid-caps **Projet Celsius** carries out the Bilan Carbone® together with the company: setting the boundary, guided data collection with the internal contacts, calculation across the 3 scopes, presentation to senior management and a **costed action plan**. We hand over **the report, the plan and the calculation model**, which the client can go on editing. We also prepare the applications for the [Diag Décarbon'Action](https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/diag-decarbonaction-complete-guide/), and our price is given further down, with the other cost benchmarks. Guillaume Pakula, who scopes the engagements, **trains people in the Bilan Carbone® for the Institut de Formation Carbone (IFC)**. He also teaches carbon accounting at the Institut Polytechnique de Paris. **We do not publish software**, and a group that consolidates dozens of subsidiaries across several continents will find larger teams at the large consultancies. To compare other consultancies, the [directory of the Association pour la transition Bas Carbone](https://abc-transitionbascarbone.fr/les-acteurs/annuaire-des-prestataires/) (ABC) lists **363** of them in carbon accounting as at 6 November 2026. ### Platforms with a consultant [Sami](https://www.sami.eco/) combines software and consultants: its website states that your consultant works in the same platform as you. It claims more than 2,000 clients in Europe and key-account capabilities at SME and mid-cap prices, **with no published price**. [Tennaxia](https://www.tennaxia.com/) adds **more than 90 in-house experts** to its carbon, HSE and ESG software suite, for leading companies. These offers suit companies that want a lasting tool and help using it. ### Stand-alone software This software calculates emissions and tracks them from one year to the next, but publishers **rarely publish their prices**: - [Greenly](https://greenly.earth/fr-fr) claims 4,000 clients, from SMEs to large groups, generates a personalised decarbonisation plan and gives **its prices on quotation**. - [Sweep](https://www.sweep.net/fr) targets large groups, mid-caps and SMEs and financial institutions, and collects supplier data, **with no published price**. - [Carbo](https://www.hellocarbo.com/tarifs-solution-entreprise/) publishes its prices: **from €972 a year** on a self-service basis, €1,080 with onboarding support and €1,404 with a dedicated expert, for 2 employees, prices that rise with headcount. ### Chartered accountants and the in-house team A few chartered accountancy firms add the assessment to their CSR (corporate social responsibility) offering, such as [Hayot Expertise](https://hayot-expertise.fr/blog/cout-financement-bilan-carbone-diag-decarbon-action), in Paris, which offers a scope 1-2-3 carbon footprint assessment to SMEs and mid-cap companies (ETI in French). They have **the accounting data** to hand, and the assessment is one service among others. Finally, the company can **train an employee**: the ABC Initiation module, mandatory to become a provider, costs **€1,300 excl. VAT**, according to [its training page](https://abc-transitionbascarbone.fr/agir/se-former-au-bilan-carbone/). Our [guide to Bilan Carbone® training (in French)](https://projetcelsius.com/blog/formation-bilan-carbone-choisir-financer/) *(in French)* compares the 5 approved training organisations. Other consultancies, often CSR generalists, fold the assessment into **full CSR support**: the report under the VSME standard, customer questionnaires, a label application, strategy. The advantage is **a single point of contact** for all these topics. It remains to check who performs the calculation, whether they are trained in the Bilan Carbone® method, and whether the action plan is costed lever by lever. To decide between 2 consultancies, the selection criteria are set out in our article [How to choose a Bilan Carbone® consultancy](https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/carbon-footprint-consultancy-how-to-choose/). ## How much does a supported Bilan Carbone® cost? **No official fee schedule** sets the price of a Bilan Carbone®: each provider prices its own work. The public benchmarks nevertheless sit on a single scale, shown below. ### The consultancy [Mission Transition Écologique](https://mission-transition-ecologique.beta.gouv.fr/projets-entreprise/bilan-ges) puts the full assessment of an SME with a consultancy at **around €10,000**. The order of magnitude observed in 2026 runs from **€10,000 to €30,000 excl. VAT**, depending on the sites, the state of the data and the depth of scope 3, as our article on [the cost of a Bilan Carbone®](https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/bilan-carbone-cost-france/) explains. At Projet Celsius, allow **€12,000 to €18,000 excl. VAT** for a full Bilan Carbone® across the 3 scopes, and €5,000 to €8,000 excl. VAT for a simplified supported format, depending on the sites and the data. The action plan and **the handover of the calculation files** are among the items to look for in a quote. ### The Diag Décarbon'Action Below **500 employees**, the [Diag Décarbon'Action from Bpifrance](https://www.bpifrance.fr/catalogue-offres/diag-decarbonaction) (the French public investment bank) leaves **€6,000 excl. VAT** to pay, after a 40% subsidy. This price covers an assessment and an action plan carried out by an approved expert, in **12 days of work over 10 months** at most. The company must **have existed for at least 1 year**. [Other regional funding schemes](https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/climate-transition-funding-carbon-footprint-lca/) are sometimes added on top. ### Software and internal time A subscription costs less than an engagement, but **it only pays for the tool**: data collection, checks and analysis are counted in employee days. On top of that come **training**, and a review if the figure is going to leave the company. The more complex the boundary, the more **these internal days weigh** in the comparison. ### The essential deliverables Whichever provider you choose, a Bilan Carbone® that can be reused the following year and defended before a customer contains **5 elements**: - A written boundary: the entities, the sites, the reference year, and the scope 3 categories included or excluded, each with its reason. - The 3 scopes, including the significant scope 3 emission categories, which the regulatory BEGES has also required since 1 January 2023. - Dated, sourced emission factors, taken from ADEME's Base Empreinte® where they appear there, with the assumptions written down alongside. - The calculation file handed over to the company in editable form, so the assessment can be redone the following year without starting from scratch. - An action plan in which each lever carries a saving in tCO2e, a cost, an owner and a deadline. > **Our recommendation** For an SME or a mid-cap, we recommend **a consultancy for the first assessment**, and that is the work we do: the written boundary, guided data collection, the calculation of the 3 scopes, the costed action plan and the calculation file handed over. In the following years, **software is enough for monitoring** if a trained person runs it. This choice rests on 3 reasons: > - The first assessment sets **the boundary and the method** that later ones will reuse, and a mistake at this stage costs you for years. > - The costed action plan is what **a customer, a public buyer or a bank** reads, far more than the total in tonnes. > - Below 500 employees, the Diag Décarbon'Action funds part of this first assessment, **action plan included**. For other profiles, other providers are a better fit: a large climate strategy consultancy for an international group, and software alone for a company in which a trained person has the time to carry out the assessment. For us at Projet Celsius, the question to ask any provider is: **what will you be able to redo on your own** the following year? Good support leaves behind **a team that knows how to collect the data**, open files and **a plan that senior management has approved**. We describe how we work on the page for [our Bilan Carbone® support](https://projetcelsius.com/en/services/carbon-footprint-bilan-carbone/). ## Key takeaways - A regulatory emissions report (BEGES) remains mandatory above 500 employees, and public buyers, large customers and banks ask other companies for one. - The boundary, data checks and the action plan require trained people, whom no software replaces. - 6 types of provider carry out Bilan Carbone® assessments, and they differ above all on setting the boundary and the action plan. - Allow around €10,000 with a consultancy for an SME according to the French State, €2,000 to €5,000 on a platform, less with the Diag Décarbon'Action. - For a first SME or mid-cap assessment, we recommend a consultancy that builds the plan with you, then software for monitoring. To compare 2 quotes, see [the cost of a Bilan Carbone®](https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/bilan-carbone-cost-france/), and to know how often to redo it, [our article on how often to carry out the assessment](https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/annual-carbon-footprint-assessment/). ## Frequently asked questions ## Frequently asked questions ### Who can carry out a Bilan Carbone®? Anyone trained in the method: a consultancy, a consultant from a software platform, a chartered accountant or one of the company's employees. No legal qualification is required, even for a mandatory BEGES. The Association pour la transition Bas Carbone requires training to apply the method, and listed 363 carbon accounting providers in its directory on 6 November 2026. ### Do I need a consultancy to carry out a Bilan Carbone®? No. A company can carry it out itself if a trained person has time, with a spreadsheet or software. A consultancy becomes useful for a first assessment, a heavy scope 3, a regulatory BEGES or an action plan to defend before a customer or a bank. Below 500 employees, the Diag Décarbon'Action funds part of the support. ### How much does a Bilan Carbone® cost with support? Mission Transition Écologique puts the full assessment of an SME with a consultancy at around €10,000, and €2,000 to €5,000 on a platform with monitoring tools. With a consultancy, the order of magnitude observed in 2026 runs from €10,000 to €30,000 excl. VAT. The Diag Décarbon'Action leaves €6,000 excl. VAT to pay below 500 employees. ### Is software enough to carry out a Bilan Carbone®? It is enough when a trained person has time, the activity is simple and the figure is for internal use. Software calculates and tracks emissions, but it sets neither the boundary, nor the data quality, nor the action plan. Many offers in fact combine software and a consultant. ### Is a Bilan Carbone® still useful now that the CSRD has been scaled back? Yes. The 2026 Omnibus directive limits sustainability reporting to companies with more than 1,000 employees and €450 million in turnover, but the French regulatory assessment (BEGES) is still due above 500 employees. Public contracts, large customers and some banks also ask for an assessment, and it is used to choose reduction actions. ### Can a chartered accountant carry out a Bilan Carbone®? Yes, if they are trained in the method: no legal qualification is reserved for it. A few chartered accountancy firms offer an assessment covering the 3 scopes as part of their CSR offering. Their strength is access to the accounting data. It remains to check that they also handle physical data and that they build a costed action plan. ### What is the difference between a BEGES and a Bilan Carbone®? The BEGES is a legal obligation: companies with more than 500 employees (250 in overseas France) publish it every 4 years with a transition plan, on pain of a fine of up to €50,000. The Bilan Carbone® is a method, created by ADEME in 2004 and maintained by the ABC since 2011: voluntary, it applies to any organisation and is also used to produce a BEGES. ## Sources - Mission Transition Écologique, [Carrying out a GHG assessment](https://mission-transition-ecologique.beta.gouv.fr/projets-entreprise/bilan-ges), cost of an assessment with a consultancy and on a platform, accessed 6 November 2026. - Bpifrance, [Diag Décarbon'Action](https://www.bpifrance.fr/catalogue-offres/diag-decarbonaction), amount, duration and eligibility, accessed 6 November 2026. - French Environmental Code, [Article L229-25](https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/article_lc/LEGIARTI000039369665), greenhouse gas emissions report and penalty, amended by Law No. 2023-973 of 23 October 2023 on green industry. The Légifrance pages are in French. - European Parliament and Council, [Directive (EU) 2026/470](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32026L0470), known as the Omnibus directive, amending the scope of the CSRD, OJEU of 26 February 2026. - Service Public Entreprendre, [public contracts: a mandatory environmental criterion](https://entreprendre.service-public.gouv.fr/actualites/A19042), 18 August 2026. - CDP, [Supply Chain](https://www.cdp.net/en/supply-chain), suppliers contacted in 2025, accessed 6 November 2026. - La Banque Postale, [interview on the decarbonisation loan](https://www.labanquepostale.fr/entreprises/actualite/2026/simon-letourneau-le-bilan-carbone.html), 24 April 2026. - Association pour la transition Bas Carbone, [directory of Bilan Carbone® providers](https://abc-transitionbascarbone.fr/les-acteurs/annuaire-des-prestataires/) and [training page](https://abc-transitionbascarbone.fr/agir/se-former-au-bilan-carbone/), accessed 6 November 2026. - Websites of [Carbone 4](https://www.carbone4.com/), [Sami](https://www.sami.eco/), [Tennaxia](https://www.tennaxia.com/), [Greenly](https://greenly.earth/fr-fr), [Sweep](https://www.sweep.net/fr), [Carbo (pricing)](https://www.hellocarbo.com/tarifs-solution-entreprise/) and [Hayot Expertise](https://hayot-expertise.fr/blog/cout-financement-bilan-carbone-diag-decarbon-action), accessed 6 November 2026. - European Commission, [Recommendation (EU) 2025/1710](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32025H1710) of 30 July 2025 on the voluntary sustainability reporting standard for SMEs (VSME). - Association pour la transition Bas Carbone, [the Bilan Carbone® method](https://abc-transitionbascarbone.fr/agir/la-methode-bilan-carbone/), accessed 6 November 2026.