When carrying out a GHG assessment with Greenly, one can choose between two methodological frameworks:
GHG Protocol - International GHG accounting standards
BEGES v5 - French regulatory GHG accounting guidelines (French GHG Inventory standards)
Both of these frameworks share the same end-goal and similar procedures. However, some differences persist.
Mapping of GHG Emissions
Scopes vs Categories
The GHG Protocol is divided into three Scopes: direct emissions (Scope 1), energy-related indirect emissions (Scope 2) and other indirect emissions (Scope 3).
BEGES v5 is divided into six Categories: direct emissions (Category 1), indirect energy-related emissions (Category 2), indirect transport-related emissions (Category 3), indirect emissions related to the purchase of products (Category 4), indirect emissions related to sold products (Category 5) and other indirect emissions (Category 6).
GHG Protocol | BEGES v5 |
Scope 1 | Category 1 |
Scope 2 | Category 2 |
Scope 3 | Category 3 to 6 |
Further subdivisions
The GHG Protocol Scope 3 is divided into 15 other categories (e.g. purchased goods and services, capital goods, business travel, employee commuting, investments, etc.).
Each BEGES v5 category is divided into several subcategories/regulatory entries.
These subdivisions are similar but still defer: some subdivisions exist in one framework but not in the other one, some subdivisions are merged/split from one framework to the other.
For more information on Scopes, Categories and Regulatory Entries:
Energy-related indirect emissions (Scope 2 or Category 2)
Both market-based and location-based approaches are mandatory for the GHG Protocol. Only the location-based method is used for BEGES v5.
Capital Goods
For the GHG Protocol, capital goods emissions aren't amortized: all cradle-to-gate emissions are accounted for in the year of acquisition or construction. For BEGES v5, cradle-to-gate GHG emissions are amortized over the lifetime of the capital good.
Employee meals
Unlike for BEGES v5, employee meals are generally not taken into account in the GHG Protocol.
Visitor and client or customer transport
Similarly, visitor and client or customer transport is not taken into account in the GHG Protocol. However, these emissions are accounted for in BEGES v5.
Other information deemed useful
A subdivision "other indirect emissions" exists in BEGES v5.
This subdivision doesn't exist in the GHG Protocol. However, other information deemed useful should be reported and mentioned in a separate paragraph. Nevertheless, these emissions are not included in the total GHG emissions reported by the company.
Other information deemed useful can include:
Other indirect emissions not included in another category: e.g. employee meals, visitor and client or customer transport, etc.
Life cycle emissions
Avoided emissions
Biogenic emissions
Carbon offsets
Etc.