![Opinion | Climate: companies must go beyond the carbon footprint Opinion | Climate: companies must go beyond the carbon footprint](https://media.lesechos.com/api/v1/images/view/6645bd1e10b196623327b978/1280x720/01101060270409-web-tete.jpg)
By consuming energy, carrying out livestock activities, agricultural practices and other land uses, any entity emits greenhouse gases, thus contributing to global warming. None of them can escape the first responsibility: reducing their emissions at source. None, either, can boast of having a neutral impact on the climate. Each company must commit to the sustainability of its development model within the framework of planetary limits.
Since we can only manage well what we can measure, around twenty years ago the carbon footprint was invented in France. This method of accounting for an organization’s direct and indirect impact on the climate has now become part of common language, particularly that of business. The carbon footprint has been enshrined in law, backed by a target and reduction actions. This is the transition plan. Since 1er January 2023, the energy and climate law requires all companies with more than 500 employees to publish one. France is one of the few countries in the world to do so.