Decarbonisation plan: the steps to successfully transition
In the face of global warming and the commitments made by France—namely carbon neutrality by 2050—reducing greenhouse gas emissions in industry is becoming essential. How can you combine high productivity with a low carbon footprint? We’ll guide you!
Build an effective decarbonisation plan
Decarbonisation plan: definition
A decarbonisation plan is an approach designed to structure the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. By implementing a decarbonisation plan, decision-making is made easier: you know where, when and how to act to reduce your carbon footprint effectively and sustainably—without weakening productivity.
What steps should you follow to build your decarbonisation plan?
To build an effective decarbonisation plan, you first need to understand the current situation—the one that will later serve as the baseline.
Step 1: Carry out a greenhouse gas emissions assessment
You can assess your emissions using two options: carrying out a Carbon Footprint assessment or a GHG assessment, also known as BEGES.
BEGES vs. Carbon Footprint
BEGES
This assessment only covers scopes 1 and 2—in other words, it only accounts for direct and indirect emissions generated by the site or industrial group.
BEGES is mandatory for the following organisations:
- Companies with more than 500 employees in mainland France
- Companies with more than 250 employees overseas
- State services
- Local authorities with more than 50,000 inhabitants
- Public institutions and other legal entities governed by public law with more than 250 staff (hospitals, for example)
Where it is mandatory, the company is required to produce and publish its GHG assessment every 4 years (or every 3 years for public entities).
Carbon Footprint
This assessment, although it accounts for more emissions, is not mandatory. Its accounting scope differs from the GHG assessment, as the Carbon Footprint covers all of the company’s emissions (scopes 1, 2 and 3).
Following a Carbon Footprint assessment or a BEGES, the company’s decarbonisation challenges become clearer. This is because emissions are quantified and the main emitting sources are highlighted.
The next step is therefore to define your decarbonisation pathway by setting reduction targets across different milestones. Once defined, this pathway will serve as the framework for developing the decarbonisation plan, which translates these targets into prioritised, scheduled actions with clearly identified, concrete resources.
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Step 2: Define your decarbonisation pathway
The decarbonisation pathway defined by the site or group must align with the vision as well as regulatory and sector requirements. Based on a baseline situation (defined in the previous step) that is representative of the activity, it is necessary to set short-term impact targets (e.g. 2030) and long-term targets (e.g. 2050), while ensuring you rely on recognised frameworks such as SBTi, in order to align your pathway with the ambitions of Europe or France.
Once the decarbonisation pathway has been defined at group or industrial site level, the decarbonisation plan must be built.
Objective: list all actions and associated resources needed to achieve the targets defined in the pathway.
Step 3: Build your decarbonisation plan
With the decarbonisation plan, the idea is to list all actions and associated resources aimed at reducing your carbon footprint. These actions must then be prioritised, scheduled and assigned to a person appointed as the project lead.
Various types of actions can be taken; some can be implemented quickly and require no investment. Findings from factories show that this type of action often involves optimising equipment operating setpoints: an oven kept hot while empty, compressed air pressure set too high, or equipment switched on long before it is used.
To go even further with its decarbonisation project, the company can also invest in high value-added projects, typically:
- Modernising its equipment
- Electrifying its processes
- Implementing waste heat recovery
- Hybridisation of heat production
- etc.
While these actions significantly help reduce the carbon footprint of an industrial site, it can sometimes be difficult to identify them—either due to a lack of time or a lack of visibility into equipment history. Fortunately, solutions exist!
How can you make your decarbonisation plan easier, track it and sustain it over time?
Without clear, real-time visibility of energy consumption data and the associated carbon footprint, it is difficult to identify and prioritise the most relevant actions to reduce costs and environmental impact. The risk? That manufacturers focus their efforts on low-emitting areas, due to limited visibility on performance trends.
That’s why, to ensure effective monitoring and sustained performance, we recommend implementing an EMS software (Energy Management Software).
Connected to sensors within the factory, this tool validates and contextualises consumption data in real time. It enables the manufacturer that implements it to track consumption effectively, visualise changes in its carbon footprint and assess the impact of the actions implemented. By identifying deviations and recommending various actions—all listed in a dedicated module (with investment cost and ROI calculated)—the EMS makes decision-making easier and becomes a true ally in staying aligned with decarbonisation targets.
Why implement a decarbonisation plan?
Having a decarbonisation plan above all means having a clear view of the next actions aimed at reducing your site’s carbon footprint. The vision and structure provided by this type of plan make it possible to get teams on board more easily. On-the-ground teams know which actions to implement, and decision-makers are better able to validate actions thanks to the KPIs estimated for upcoming actions.
Beyond structuring your approach, in the long term the decarbonisation plan brings many benefits. Indeed, industrial decarbonisation makes it possible to better control costs, increase resilience to energy price volatility, respond more quickly in crisis situations and improve brand image.
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