Bilan Carbone® under €5,000: the 3 real options

1The 3 routes around €5,000 excl. VAT

Route 1: Diag Décarbon'Action. The ADEME/Bpifrance programme funds 40% of a €10,000 excl. VAT fixed fee, leaving €6,000 excl. VAT payable by the company. Regional grants vary from region to region and need checking case by case. This is the most attractive option: a complete Bilan Carbone®, covering scopes 1, 2 and 3, carried out by an ABC-certified consultancy, at a price well below the private market.

Route 2: a scope 1 + 2-only assessment. An assessment covering only direct emissions (scope 1) and purchased energy (scope 2) generally costs €3,500 to €6,000 excl. VAT through an independent consultancy. It is a genuine technical Bilan Carbone®, but its limited boundaries make it unsuitable for most external uses: large clients, the largest of which are themselves subject to CSRD, an SBTi pathway or B Corp certification for large companies expect at least scope 3 measurement. The option may be defensible for a micro-business seeking an initial internal guide, or an industrial site whose emissions are mainly direct.

Route 3: a SaaS platform with light support. Several platforms offer software access with Bilan Carbone® templates and some remote support, for €2,000 to €4,500 excl. VAT per year. The company collects and enters the data itself, while the platform supplies emission factors (often from the ADEME Base Empreinte) and produces a report. The deliverable may be technically sound, but lacks the strategic work: an action plan and a presentation that engages management. Typical use: a start-up before fundraising, or a mature company systematising its reporting. The choice between SaaS and a consultancy is explained in another article.

2What you cannot get for less than €5,000 excl. VAT

Here is what you will not find below this threshold.

A complete Bilan Carbone® covering scope 1 + 2 + 3, with a quantified action plan and a presentation to management, carried out as a conventional private engagement by an ABC-certified consultancy. The market price is €10,000 to €30,000 excl. VAT for an SME, depending on complexity. A consultancy offering this service at €4,500 excl. VAT necessarily sacrifices collection quality, scope 3 depth or the presentation of results.

An assessment usable in a large client's CSRD reporting or in greenwashing litigation. These frameworks require data traceability, a level of verification and procedures that take at least 8 to 10 consultant-days. At €800 to €1,200 excl. VAT per consultant-day, labour alone already costs between €6,400 and €12,000 excl. VAT.

An assessment that can answer a demanding tender. Large companies asking their suppliers for a Bilan Carbone® expect a deliverable including scope 3, validated by an identified consultancy and produced using a recognised method. You will not find an assessment at €4,000 excl. VAT that meets these criteria from a competent provider.

33 common traps

Trap 1: the "express assessment" at €2,500 excl. VAT. Some offers promise a complete Bilan Carbone® in two weeks for less than €3,000. In practice, what is sold is often a disguised scope 1 + 2 assessment, or a complete spend-based calculation using accounting data without proper physical data collection. The resulting figure may be defensible for a micro-business seeking an order of magnitude, but will be dismissed by any client or auditor.

Trap 2: the SaaS subscription at €300/month without service. Over a year, this comes to €3,600 excl. VAT, which looks attractive, but the company has to do everything itself: collection, entry, interpretation, action plan. Business leaders almost always underestimate this internal workload: at least 4 to 6 days of work for a CSR manager, whose full cost (salary including employer contributions and time taken from other matters) can exceed €3,000. We explain this hidden cost in our article on doing your own Bilan Carbone®.

Trap 3: using a scope 1 + 2 assessment as a complete assessment. This is the most expensive trap over the medium term. A company that publishes a scope 1 + 2 assessment at €4,500 excl. VAT, then receives a request from a large client for a complete assessment including scope 3 within 18 months, must repeat a full engagement at €10,000 to €14,000 excl. VAT. Total over 18 months: €15,000 to €18,500 excl. VAT, more expensive than a complete assessment from the outset. We saw this happen 2 times last year; in one case, the SME had to give up a contract worth €800k because its assessment did not meet the client's supplier specification.

4How to find your way without falling into the traps

Before deciding, ask yourself 3 questions.

What will the assessment be used for? For internal use, an assessment limited to scopes 1 and 2 may suffice, for less than €5,000 excl. VAT. For external use (a large company's B Corp certification, a client subject to CSRD, a tender, a large client), you need to cover scope 3, and €5,000 excl. VAT will not be enough without public funding.

Am I eligible for Diag Décarbon'Action? If so, the question is largely settled: a complete assessment costs €6,000 excl. VAT. Check eligibility before requesting private quotes.

What internal capacity do I have available? If nobody can manage the subject internally, avoid low-price SaaS platforms, which assume this capacity, and instead pay a consultancy to handle the work from start to finish.

5What matters in the decision

The answer depends on your profile. If you are eligible for the Diag, allow €6,000 excl. VAT for a complete assessment usable everywhere: this is the only route close to €5,000 that is useful in practice. If you are not eligible but a client, auditor or investor will examine your assessment within 18 months, there is no realistic saving below €10,000 excl. VAT, and the low-price routes almost always have to be paid for again within the year. If the use is strictly internal and educational, SaaS or an assessment limited to scopes 1 and 2 is enough, provided you accept having to redo everything as soon as an external stakeholder enters the picture.

Ultimately, the useful question is whether this €5,000 assessment will still serve you in 2 years. For most SMEs, the answer is no, unless they use the Diag. For a micro-business, strictly internal use or a public organisation with a constrained budget, routes 2 and 3 may be defensible, provided their limitations are accepted.

Further resources

Frequently asked questions

1Is a Bilan Carbone® for less than €5,000 realistic?

For a complete assessment covering scopes 1, 2 and 3, not really: the closest option is Diag Décarbon'Action, leaving €6,000 excl. VAT payable by the company. In a private engagement, a complete assessment with a quantified action plan costs €10,000 to €30,000 excl. VAT for an SME, depending on complexity. Other offers below €5,000 (an assessment limited to scopes 1 and 2, self-service SaaS) suit internal use, but often have to be redone within 18 months as soon as a client requests scope 3.

2What are the realistic options below €5,000?

Diag Décarbon'Action, the first of the 3 routes, is slightly above this threshold: it delivers a complete Bilan Carbone® from an approved consultancy for €6,000 excl. VAT payable by the company. An assessment limited to scopes 1 and 2 costs €3,500 to €6,000 excl. VAT through an independent consultancy, but large clients, SBTi and B Corp for large companies expect at least scope 3 measurement. A SaaS platform with light support costs €2,000 to €4,500 excl. VAT per year, provided the company handles collection, entry and interpretation itself.

3What do you sacrifice at €5,000 compared with €10,000?

Below €5,000 excl. VAT, an assessment presented as complete sacrifices at least one of these 3 elements: collection quality, scope 3 depth or the presentation to management. Express offers at €2,500 excl. VAT are often disguised scope 1 and 2 assessments, or spend-based calculations without physical data collection. An assessment usable in a large client's CSRD reporting or for a demanding tender takes at least 8 to 10 consultant-days, meaning €6,400 to €12,000 excl. VAT in labour at €800 to €1,200 excl. VAT per day, before any other cost category. A complete SME assessment costs €10,000 to €30,000 excl. VAT depending on complexity.

4Can a Bilan Carbone® for less than €5,000 comply with BEGES?

It can if it covers the required boundaries, which a low price does not guarantee. BEGES (Article L229-25 of the Environmental Code) applies to companies with more than 500 employees, 250 in overseas territories. Those subject to sustainability reporting (CSRD), which replaced the non-financial performance statement and which the Omnibus I Directive restricts to companies with more than 1,000 employees and €450 million in turnover, must include their significant indirect emissions (scope 3): an assessment limited to scopes 1 and 2 is insufficient. For the others, scope 3 remains optional, but all publish a transition plan on ADEME's platform. Non-compliance is punishable by a fine of €50,000, rising to €100,000 for a repeat offence.

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