The different formats of GHG inventories

In France, several inventory formats coexist. The international reference is the GHG inventory in format known as the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change). This is the official document communicated by States as part of their international political commitments to combat climate change. The inventory in Secten format (economic sectors and energy) was developed by Citepa at the request of the Ministry in charge of climate change, to provide more accessible information. The Secten format is used to define and evaluate national public climate policies, in particular the national low-carbon strategy (SNBC).

Comparison of inventories in UNFCCC and Secten formats

Scope: Kyoto perimeter (metropolitan France and overseas territories belonging to the EU).
Sources: Citepa, 2025 - inventory in Secten format and CRF-FRK tables (UNFCCC).

Although equivalent in terms of total mass, the UNFCCC and Secten inventories present a slightly different breakdown of emissions by sector.

The inventory in UNFCCC format relates emissions strictly to the activity from which they originate (e.g. emissions linked to the use of air conditioning in road vehicles come from the source "industrial processes"; emissions from agricultural machinery are inventoried in the category "energy").

The inventory in Secten format favors sectoral consistency (example: emissions from vehicle air conditioning are assigned to "transport"; emissions from agricultural machinery are attached to the "agriculture" sector).