Bilan Carbone® or OEF: differences and when to switch

1Two methods, two scopes

Bilan Carbone® is the reference French method (method v9 · ADEME/ABC · 2024), using a single indicator: greenhouse gases only (kgCO₂e) across scopes 1, 2 and 3. It draws on ISO 14064-1 and ADEME's Base Empreinte for emission factors. The method is used in particular to prepare the statutory greenhouse gas emissions report (BEGES) (Grenelle II law), which must be updated every 4 years for companies subject to it and every 3 years for public bodies.

OEF (Organisational Environmental Footprint) is the European Commission's multicriteria methodology, defined in Annex III of Recommendation (EU) 2021/2279 of 15 December 2021. It is the organisational version of PEF (Product Environmental Footprint). The method follows five stages (Goal and Scope, Life Cycle Inventory, EF Impact Assessment, Interpretation, Reporting/Verification) and measures 16 impact categories from the EF 3.1 method (IPCC AR6 GWP factors since September 2024): climate change, water, land use (biodiversity), fossil and mineral resources, particulate matter, human toxicity (cancer / non-cancer), ecotoxicity, eutrophication (marine, freshwater, terrestrial), acidification, ozone, ionisation and photochemical ozone formation.

2Scope, methodology and deliverable

Scope - Bilan Carbone®, a single indicator (climate). OEF, sixteen environmental indicators. Bilan Carbone® covers carbon alone, while OEF covers the sixteen categories.

Methodology - Bilan Carbone®, emission factors from ADEME's Base Empreinte and ISO 14064-1 assumptions. OEF, LCA data in physical units (kg, m³, MJ, ha·year) + PEFCR (Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules) where they exist for your sector. OEF follows the logic of a multicriteria LCA, rather than a GHG inventory.

Deliverable and use - Bilan Carbone®, a GHG report that feeds into the reduction action plan, the SBTi pathway and the statutory BEGES submission to ADEME. OEF, a multicriteria report that feeds directly into CSRD ESRS E1 to E5 reporting, product environmental labelling (a method derived from PEF), and increasingly the award criteria for EU public procurement. Governance difference · OEF requires verification and validation by an independent third party as soon as the study is used for external communication, whereas neither Bilan Carbone® nor the BEGES submission requires third-party verification.

3What OEF adds

1. Your environmental impact is not limited to carbon. In the food industry, water and land use often carry as much weight as climate in environmental materiality. In textiles, resources and ecotoxicity do. In chemicals, human toxicity and eutrophication do. A single GHG indicator covers none of these categories. OEF puts the sixteen dimensions on the same table and provides the trade-offs that were missing: less CO₂ but more water? Less water but more ecotoxicity?

2. You already have a few product LCAs. This is probably the case if you work in textiles (Ecobalyse score), furniture, cosmetics, food or construction. Product LCA data feed directly into OEF (the same Ecoinvent/EF databases, impact categories and allocation rules). You obtain a multicriteria organisational assessment without collecting the data twice, and examine in detail the largest scope 3 sources (supplies, sold products), which Bilan Carbone® can address using physical data but often approaches through spend-based emission factors.

3. You respond to European requirements. The ESPR regulation (Ecodesign for Sustainable Products, 2024) sets the framework for ecodesign requirements, the Digital Product Passport and green public procurement, specified product by product through delegated acts (textiles and furniture are among the priorities in the 2025-2030 working plan). It cites the PEF method as one of the bases for calculating products' environmental footprint but does not require OEF, and the battery passport, required from 18 February 2027, falls under Regulation (EU) 2023/1542. If your sector has an active PEFCR (Apparel & Footwear for textiles, food PEFCRs, batteries) or a national method such as Ecobalyse, OEF aligns your organisational reporting with the product PEF score without running two separate exercises.

4. You are preparing your CSRD ESRS E2 to E5 reporting. The CSRD directive requires reporting on pollution (E2), water (E3), biodiversity (E4) and resources (E5). A single-indicator Bilan Carbone® does not cover them. OEF covers them natively, with an indicator nomenclature that overlaps with half of the environmental ESRS.

4How to decide between the two

Bilan Carbone® remains a recognised French route for BEGES compliance (Grenelle II law requirement for companies with >500 employees, which also accepts the GHG Protocol or ISO 14064-1) and access to public funding (Diag Décarbon'Action, ADEME calls); an SBTi pathway, for its part, relies on an inventory in GHG Protocol format. It is a GHG inventory, rather than the broadest assessment methodology. As soon as the budget for a multicriteria LCA is available, OEF broadens the scope: it includes GHG Protocol climate accounting for scopes 1+2+3, and adds the fifteen other impact categories that the single GHG indicator does not cover.

The switch depends first on your existing data · a well-prepared Bilan Carbone® provides 80 to 90% of the activity data needed for OEF (kg of materials, kWh, tonnes of products, km, m³); what changes is the impact factors applied through an LCA database (Ecoinvent, EF), rather than the data themselves. Then your ability to read a multicriteria report rather than a single-indicator report, which requires LCA knowledge among CSR teams and engineering consultancies. Finally, third-party verification, mandatory for an OEF as soon as it is communicated externally, which sets its own pace.

For internal training, the LCA course delivered with IFC.D combines 4 h online and 14 h with a trainer. The programme covers ISO 14040/44, modelling in OpenLCA, interpretation of results and an introduction to PEF. These foundations help you discuss matters with a provider and scope a multicriteria study; moving to an organisational OEF study requires an appropriate scope and methodological choices. For a team with shared objectives, Celsius can also scope an in-house programme. Any funding must be confirmed by your funding body before enrolment.

5Key takeaways

• OEF (Recommendation (EU) 2021/2279, Annex III) measures 16 impact categories, including climate through GHG Protocol scopes 1+2+3, whereas Bilan Carbone® remains a single GHG indicator.
• Four cases for switching: significant non-climate impact, existing product LCAs, ESPR/DPP requirements, CSRD ESRS E2 to E5 reporting.
• 80 to 90% of the collection is shared: activity data from a Bilan Carbone® feed directly into an OEF; it is the impact factors that change.
• Bilan Carbone® remains a recognised French route for BEGES and public funding, while the SBTi pathway uses the GHG Protocol. The two coexist, with OEF broadening the assessment.

Further resources

Frequently asked questions

1Is OEF mandatory in France in 2026?

It is not mandatory at this stage. But CSRD ESRS E2 to E5 (pollution, water, biodiversity, resources) requires indicators that overlap directly with OEF, and the ESPR regulation (2024) provides, sector by sector, for environmental information requirements for which the PEF method is a possible calculation basis (textiles and furniture are among the Commission's priorities); the 2027 battery passport, for its part, falls under Regulation (EU) 2023/1542. For large listed groups, the two frameworks will converge rapidly by 2027-2028.

2Is OEF compatible with an SBTi pathway?

Yes, directly. The OEF method calculates climate impact across scopes 1+2+3 of the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard (WBCSD/WRI), with EF 3.1 GWP characterisation factors (IPCC AR6). An OEF can therefore be used as it stands to define and monitor an SBTi Corporate Net-Zero Standard pathway, without recalculating climate impact. In practice, several industrial companies now define their SBTi pathway using their OEF, benefiting both from the climate accounting required by SBTi and from the multicriteria approach that guides the other environmental dimensions.

3Does OEF replace Bilan Carbone®?

In methodological substance: yes. OEF natively incorporates climate accounting for scopes 1+2+3 of the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard (WBCSD/WRI), with EF 3.1 GWP characterisation factors (IPCC AR6), and adds fifteen other impact categories. In French practice: no, BEGES compliance (Grenelle II law) involves a statutory GHG emissions report, which Bilan Carbone® can produce just as the GHG Protocol or ISO 14064-1 can, and Diag Décarbon'Action funds a GHG emissions assessment carried out by an expert certified in Bilan Carbone® or equivalent. The two coexist, with a broader OEF assessment and a statutory GHG emissions report that becomes mandatory as soon as you meet the French criteria.

4Can you prepare an OEF using data from an existing Bilan Carbone®?

Yes, to a large extent. Most activity data from a Bilan Carbone® (kg of materials, kWh, tonnes of products, km, m³) can be reused directly for OEF: what changes between a Bilan Carbone® and an OEF is not the activity data, but the impact factors applied (a single climate criterion vs 16 EF 3.1 criteria). The additions specific to OEF are marginal: a few sectoral indicators (precise types of raw material, a few pollutant flows) that were not essential for Bilan Carbone®. In practice, 80 to 90% of the collection is shared between the two formats.

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