Everything finance, sustainability and executive teams ask us about carbon footprints, CSRD reporting and the Kabaun platform.
The basics to understand carbon accounting.
A corporate carbon footprint is the accounting of greenhouse gas emissions generated by an organisation's activities over a given period, expressed in tonnes of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e). It covers three scopes: direct emissions (Scope 1), energy-related emissions (Scope 2) and indirect value-chain emissions (Scope 3). It is the first step of any credible decarbonisation strategy.
The Greenhouse Gas Protocol is the international carbon accounting standard published by WRI and WBCSD. It defines the calculation methodology by scope and the consolidation rules (operational control, equity share). It underpins most frameworks: CDP, SBTi, ISO 14064 and the CSRD ESRS E1 standard.
Scope 1 covers direct emissions: fuel combustion, industrial processes, refrigerant leaks. Scope 2 covers indirect emissions from purchased energy: electricity, heat, steam, cooling. Scope 3 covers 15 categories of indirect value-chain emissions: purchased goods, upstream and downstream transport, use of sold products, business travel, end-of-life. Scope 3 accounts on average for 70 to 90 % of total emissions in most sectors.
An emission factor is a coefficient that converts activity data (kWh, kg, km, euros) into tonnes of CO2 equivalent. Example: 0.055 kgCO2e per kWh of French electricity. Factors come from recognised public databases such as ADEME Base Empreinte, DEFRA, EPA or ecoinvent. Their quality and freshness directly drive the accuracy of the footprint.
Using a manual approach with consultants and spreadsheets, a first footprint typically takes 3 to 6 months. With software like Kabaun that automates data collection (accounting exports, invoices, ERP, HR), the timeline drops to a few weeks for a full scope and to a few days for annual updates.
A Life Cycle Assessment quantifies the environmental footprint of a product or service, from raw material extraction to end-of-life. It follows the ISO 14040/14044 standard and produces PEP, EPD or environmental declarations. LCA complements an organisational carbon footprint by adding product-level granularity.
Why, how to choose, how much it costs.
Carbon accounting software centralises data collection, applies up-to-date emission factors, automates calculations by scope and produces regulatory reports (BEGES, CSRD ESRS E1, CDP). It secures the audit trail, reduces the time spent by finance and sustainability teams and makes annual updates fast and reproducible.
Excel is flexible but fragile: emission factors are not updated automatically, the audit trail is hard to maintain, multi-entity and multi-period consolidation quickly becomes unmanageable. Carbon software guarantees methodological consistency, traceability and regulatory compliance. For groups and mid-market companies with multiple subsidiaries, a dedicated tool becomes essential.
Carbon accounting software is usually priced as an annual subscription, indexed on the size of the organisation (headcount, scope, number of entities). The market ranges from a few thousand to several tens of thousands of euros per year. For Kabaun's pricing grid, see the Pricing page.
Key criteria: methodological compliance (GHG Protocol, BEGES, CSRD ESRS E1), quality and freshness of emission factors, automation via accounting and ERP connectors, multi-entity and multi-period handling, traceability and audit trail, data hosting (digital sovereignty), methodological support. Ask for live demos and test on a real perimeter before signing.
No. Software automates calculation and collection, the consultant brings methodological expertise, strategic scoping and the design of the decarbonisation trajectory. The two are complementary. Kabaun works with a network of consulting partners and offers in-house support for first-time footprints.
What European law and international standards require.
The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive is the European directive that replaced the NFRD in 2024. It requires concerned companies to publish a sustainability report structured according to ESRS standards, integrated into the management report and audited by a statutory auditor. The climate chapter (ESRS E1) mandates disclosure of Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, reduction trajectories and transition plans.
The CSRD applies progressively: large listed companies (fiscal year 2024), other large companies over 250 employees (FY 2025), listed SMEs (FY 2026). In practice, mid-market and SME suppliers of large groups are also pulled in by the value chain: their clients ask for their carbon data to consolidate their own Scope 3.
BEGES (Bilan d'Émissions de Gaz à Effet de Serre) is the French obligation under article L.229-25 of the Environment Code: a quadrennial publication for companies with more than 500 employees. The CSRD is a broader, annual European directive covering climate, water, biodiversity, circular economy, social and governance topics. The two coexist: BEGES does not disappear with the CSRD.
In France, it is mandatory for companies with more than 500 employees (regulatory BEGES), public bodies with more than 250 agents and certain local authorities. With the CSRD, the obligation expands to all large European companies and to listed SMEs. Many non-mandatory organisations also produce one under pressure from clients, investors or public tenders.
The Science Based Targets initiative is an international framework validating corporate reduction targets aligned with the Paris Agreement (1.5 °C trajectory). A company submits its trajectory for scientific validation then publishes its commitment. SBTi covers near-term targets (5 to 10 years) and long-term Net Zero objectives.
ESRS E1 is the European climate reporting standard within the CSRD. It requires 9 disclosure blocks: transition plan, policies, actions, targets, energy consumption, Scope 1 2 3 emissions, removals, internal carbon pricing mechanisms, anticipated financial effects of climate change. It is the core of the climate section of your CSRD report.
What we do, for whom and how.
Kabaun is a SaaS carbon management platform designed for groups and mid-market companies. It automates data collection (accounting exports, invoices, ERP, HR), applies recognised emission factors (ADEME Base Empreinte, DEFRA, EPA) and calculates the carbon footprint by Scope 1, 2 and 3 according to the GHG Protocol. Outputs cover BEGES, CSRD ESRS E1, CDP and SBTi.
Klem is the embedded intelligence inside Kabaun. It assists finance and sustainability teams: accounting entry categorisation suggestions, anomaly detection, methodological Q&A, supplier audit. Klem does not replace human judgment: it accelerates the work and documents its suggestions for the audit trail.
Kabaun offers several tiers tailored to organisation size: small business, SME, mid-market, large groups. Pricing depends on the number of consolidated entities, functional scope and support level. For the detailed grid, see the Pricing page or contact us for a tailored quote.
Kabaun is designed for industrial and export sectors with significant carbon stakes: manufacturing, logistics and transport, agrifood, construction, distribution, B2B services. Dedicated sector pages present the use cases, connectors and sector-specific emission factors available.
Yes. CSRD exports follow the ESRS E1 indicator structure. BEGES reports comply with the official format of article L.229-25 and with the ADEME methodological framework. An audit trail is built in for statutory auditors, and read-only access allows direct auditor review.
How Kabaun connects to your information system.
Typically: energy consumption (electricity, gas and fuel invoices), purchases and fixed assets (accounting exports, invoicing), transport and logistics (service providers), business travel (expense reports), headcount and commuting. The more granular the data (kWh, kg, km), the more accurate the footprint. Kabaun also runs in a degraded mode on purely monetary data.
Yes. Kabaun Connect provides native connectors for the main ERP, accounting and HR platforms. For less standard systems, CSV or API import remains available. The list of integrations and connectors is documented on the Connect page.
Three modes coexist: automatic connectors (ERP, accounting, HR), file imports (CSV, Excel, accounting exports), manual entry for exception data. Klem assists with categorisation and flags anomalies. Imports are versioned: you can correct and re-run a calculation without losing the audit trail.
Kabaun applies a hybrid approach: physical data when available (kWh, kg, km), monetary data converted via sector ratios otherwise. This method delivers a usable footprint from year one and improves accuracy over subsequent collection cycles. Data quality is tracked indicator by indicator.
Where your data sits, who accesses it, what compliance applies.
Data is hosted in the European Union, with providers compliant with GDPR and digital sovereignty requirements. No transfer outside the EU without explicit agreement. Infrastructure follows ISO 27001 best practices: encryption at rest, daily backups, strict separation of test and production environments.
Yes. A processing register, a Data Processing Agreement and a privacy policy are available. Personal data (headcount, expense reports) is minimised and anonymised whenever possible. Rights of access, rectification and deletion are operational for your collaborators.
You do. Imported or entered data remains the full property of your organisation. Kabaun acts solely as a processor under GDPR. You can export all your data at any time in Excel, CSV and JSON formats, including at contract termination.
Yes. Security controls follow an ISO 27001 framework and undergo regular penetration tests. A compliance report and a security questionnaire are available on request for your own security teams or auditors.
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