Resources History Vision The Institute

Most of our resources can be downloaded here by clicking on the words in blue:

The three essentials :

The initiator file by Pierre Calame (January 2020) : comptecarbone.pdf

The report ARTE June 2023 by Richard Bonnet

The dossier analyses and outlook prepared with Bertrand Claverie


The essentials :

Pierre Calame's books (from which the project stems), Petit traité d'oeconomie (published by ECLM, 2018) and Petit traité de gouvernance (2023)

Armel Prieur's books Counting (2021) and Satis (2023)

Visit Wikipedia of carbon accounting

Carbon account presentation in the new online media www.lejournal.info

Is it too much of an effort for citizens? Demonstrate that businesses and administrations are the primary targets (and beneficiaries).

Degrowth or not? Demonstrating that carbon accounting does not reduce the financing capacity of French social services


Our visual aids :

The comic strip by Besse and Lablanche : comptecarbone.jpg

In-store film showing users (2-minute feature) : download or play on youtube

Fanny's "j'en ai marre" film for the carbon account line (3 minutes): download or read on youtube

Marieke's descriptive postit-motion film (5 minutes) : download or play on youtube

The film-dialogue between young girls explaining the mechanism (5mn) on youtube

An outline of the Carbon Account (January 2022)

A mindmap of the mechanism (November 2021)

The TEDx conference by Côme Girschig at the Sorbonne (October 2021, 20 minutes)

The BFM docu-drama on Nov 14, 2022 on 2050 and its two hypotheses of "carbon permits" or disaster (film at 36′)

The making-off of the BFM program "2050-Ouvrons les yeux"

Two minutes to understand CO2 by France-2 : 15janvier2021.mp4


Our partners :

Feasibility study by AllocationClimat.fr (November 2021)

Visit Allocation Climat presentation by Vianney for Polytechnique engineers

The study by Will Steffen et al. on the risk of Terre-Etuve : Steffen.pdf

The study of disparities by Lucas Chancel, 2021

Ministerial sources for calculating 9t/person/year

Message of support from our UK partner, now ECOCORE

Jezabel Couppey-Soubeyran and Pierre Delandre include the carbon account in their study study on money creation, on AOC


Media :

Interview with David Van Reybrouck in Le Soir - March 14, 2023 (following his book " Nous colonisons l'avenir" (" We are colonizing the future") Actes sud, 2023)

Interview with Martin Hirsch on France inter on May 8, 2023, he advocates a carbon account mechanism at 10%/year in his novel " Les Solastalgiques" , Stock, 2023

Pierre Calame's appeal on April 17

The article in Ouest France this January 31, 2023 to propose a sobriety income from the carbon account: HERE

January 12, 2023 by Ouest France Pierre Calame's column for a national debate : TRIBUNE

January 6, 2023 begins the year with a thoughtful article in Les Echos

The newsletter podcast 345ppm (June 2022)

Narbonne radio's audio interview : ECOLOCAL.mp3

The notebook for national consultation SFEC : CahierCITEGO.pdf to propose an acculturation to carbon metering

Cahier des assises du climat for SFEC : CahierEscape-jobs.pdf

Interview in AltersMedia March 2022 by Didier Raciné very interested in the differences with industrial quotas

First Ouest-France tribune February 7, 2020

Guest column by Pierre Calame in Le Monde on March 6, 2020

Opinion column StopCarbone by 80 signatories for Ouest-France on July 15, 2020

Opinion column with Dominique Méda and Michèle Rivasi in Le Monde on August 13, 2020

The call for debate published by Ouest-France on November 10, 2020

Opinion column summarizing the climate conference in Ouest France on May 22, 2021

Summary of the climate conference in LA CROIX (April 2021)

A plea against the carbon tax in Le Drenche September 2021

"Climat, une folie sociale" featured in YONNELAUTRE (October 2021) an adaptation of Boris Cyrulnik's work

Ahead of COP26 in Glasgow, in OUEST FRANCE on October 9, 2021 to avoid Glasgow-washing...

Tribune OUEST FRANCE on Nov 20, 2021 with Dominique Bourg, to choose between carbon tax and carbon account

Call for climate rationing in OUEST FRANCE 29/08/2022 by Pierre Calame with 80 signatories, copy HERE.

Interview with Armel Prieur published in L'OBS on September 14, 2022 here

Opinion column by Pierre Calame in Le Monde on October 12, 2022: fossil fuels, the end of abundance, for everyone!

Midi-Libre October 18, 2022 after work with AllocationClimat HERE or image


Practical information sheets:

Reconciling, the carbon account: how to stop arguing over everyday gestures...

Nine rules of carbon accounting: explaining the basics in a nutshell

Carbon footprint carbon footprint calculation

Fraud Risk Response Sheet fraud risks

Meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (UN) : CC-supportODD.doc

Dossier by Denis Bonnelle (30-page dossier compiled after the climate conference)

Dossier by Bertrand Claverie (15-page summary of essential details)

Antonin Pottier's counter-arguments ( December 21 on carbon map)

Analysis of the Pottier dossier at the May 14, 22 symposium: Key messages on the Antonin Pottier study

Dossier critique ADEME de la valeur carbone équitable (July 2022, see pages 71-73) ICI

Summary for decision-makers (a fact sheet with the essentials of the mechanism)

Account of the carbon account (one card with the implementation sequence and diagram)

Mechanism for for families in difficulty

Inter-company between companies

Draft monthly statement

Draft points transfer order

Proposed carbon experiment on one hundred families

A example of eight typical cases over 2022, 2035 and 2050

A summary of the EU-ETS mechanism rather ineffective

Global atlas of the rationing rates that would be required for all countries to apply the carbon account mechanism

Valérie's spring letter

Valérie's article on biodiversity loss and carbon accounting

The Geneva conference on June 1, 2022 by Pierre Calame at the Assises européennes de la transition écologique AETE

The experimental proposal for 100 families and 10 stores and services

A summary report of the symposium held on 9/17/2022

A memo on the fear of carbon

How to count carbon for labeling : carbon-content-standards.doc


Pedagogical tools :

Basic slideshow : WhyCC.ppt

Counting slideshow for a detailed explanation of Will Steffen's study

Reticent slide show : free-quotas.ppt (explain to more skeptical participants using other free quotas)

Slideshow out of climate chaos : exit.ppt

Systemic slide show (starting from the global to introduce the carbon account and some examples) : lasystemiqueduclimat.pptx

Text of the BATTLE CarbonAccount AGAINST CarbonTax in Toulouse on October 6-7, 2022

Slideshow for the Pacte du Pouvoir de Vivre conference (the carbon account does not create a carbon market but a melting currency)


Conference by Côme Girschig at ChangeNow 2022

Last but not least, the Carbon Account Collective has created a youtube to store our videos (sorry for the publicity, consume with moderation)


In the making since the 1990s, the mechanism has been described in books by Pierre Calame, David Fleming, Eric Vidalenc Vidalenc, Yannick Roudaut, Mathilde Szuba Szuba, Armel Prieur Prieur, by David Van Reybrouck, Martin Hirsch ... and on Wikipedia

The theoretical aspects of our mechanism were developed by Pierre Calame under the name of individual carbon quotas, in opposition to industrial quotas also known as "rights to pollute". He came up with the idea under the influence of Indian ecologist Anil Agarwal, who asked in 1980 "Who owns carbon sinks?
Pierre Calame detailed this in his books "Essai sur l'Oeconomie" in 2009 and then his "Petit traité d'oeconomie" in 2018. The latter can be found online. In 2020, Pierre Calame detailed the principle in his booklet "Compte carbone" which can be downloaded here :

Foundation text

The best summary appears in the conclusion of the Assises du climat conducted from February to April 2020: Assises du climat

These debates highlighted five criteria for the effectiveness of any mechanism aimed at curbing climate chaos:

  • 1-guarantee year-on-year progress
  • 2-integrate the entire responsibility for greenhouse gases, both through imports and local emissions
  • 3-avoid social injustice
  • 4- Involve all private and public, collective and individual players
  • 5- principle of least constraint, which contributes to the legitimacy of public action.

In addition to Pierre Calame's work, complementary studies have been carried out in England by David Flemming and Mayer Hillman, and in France by Eric Vidalenc, Yannick Roudaut and Mathilde Szuba. The English movement is supported by Carbon Watchdog, now EcoCore and its manager Adam Hardy.

Armel Prieur has produced a booklet entitled Compter for a story of a possible future in 2050 and completes it with a novel, Satis, published by Geste Editions. As son of farmers and sensitive to nuisances (which is why he chose to specialize in water treatment and nuisances at his engineering school in Poitiers - ESIP), he has been involved in the climate cause ever since Haroun Tazieff's famous debate on the subject in 1979.

It's not easy to make carbon reduction tangible! A monument has been proposed in the center of Paris, the www.decarbometre.fr: thanks to support...

Partners :

L' Agence Carbone, the Fabrique des Transitions, The Civic Pact, Citego, Allocation-Climat, Ar Nevez, Renaissance écologique, Wikigreen, Labos1point5, EcoCore, Les Décarbonautes, Escape-jobs, Climate Chance, Agir pour le Climat, Citoyens pour le Climat, Unis pour le Climat...


To ensure that global warming does not exceed 2°C, and if possible 1.5°C, the Carbon Account responds to the scientific findings synthesized by the IPCC and to the 2015 "Paris Agreement", in which all the world's countries committed to reducing greenhouse gases (GHGs).

Every half-degree has considerable consequences for biodiversity, agricultural yields and their food consequences, sea levels... for our collective ability to offer greater security for the future of our youngest citizens.

Every year, France is responsible for 604 million tonnes of CO² equivalent (emissions from local and imported production, including all GHGs). That's an average of 9 tonnes per person per year. To help safeguard the climate balance, we need to reduce our emissions to 2 tonnes of CO² per person, to reach less than 100 million tonnes in 2050. That's a reduction of around 80% in 30 years. It's staggering. Every year lost makes the effort even more important.

Within this framework, the individual carbon account makes it possible to reduce greenhouse gases by relying on consumers to get companies to react. With a mechanism as simple as tracking purchases, the aim is to make all players responsible. As each person also has an individual carbon quota, which is reduced by 6% each year, we aim to bring about a change in everyone's behavior to keep the planet habitable and promote fraternal prosperity.

The starting perimeter is that of national accounts (to better track flows in and out of the national territory), but the European Union* is the target. We recommend starting up simultaneously in several countries In the same way that VAT (invented in France in 1967) was quickly adopted, this individual carbon account is intended to be implemented worldwide.

*European website: www.carbonAccount.eu and European coordination www.cequic.eu

The aim is to INSTITUTE a carbon-limiting counting mechanism...

By bringing together players from all the NGOs that support the principle of carbon accounting, the movement is equipping itself with the Institute both for its physical and organizational realities (feasibility) and for its communication and the popular and political movements that the movement can generate towards its implementation. Website, social networks, publications, petitions, referendum proposals, prototype development, sociological studies of acceptability and feasibility.

At the outset, the alliance (and this website) is supported by the Escape-jobs association for funding, liability and insurance.

Members are nominated by the organizations and groups that have signed the Carbon Account Alliance:

Valérie Cohen, coordinator

Pierre Calame, Editor

Armel Prieur, speaker

Hervé Cellard, trainer

Kristina Hakala, press

Cyril Muzellec, Corporate Relations

Nadine Robion, consultant trainer

Olivier Ménicot, Corporate Relations

Nils Olhund, artist relations

Christophe Huchedé, carbometer

François Ledoux, Employment Relations

Annabelle Berger, Ministry Relations

Michael Sdika, community relations

Bernard Fortier, SME Relations

François Blin and Jocelyn Fuseau, architects

Sébastien Ravut, communication

Replay of May 14 symposium September 17 symposium Sharing symposium 1stDec22

During the national consultation by the Ministry of Ecological Transition in 2021 for a Strategy France Energy and Climate (SFEC) it was established the booklet No. 6 with the partner CITEGO, to be found HERE for its descriptions of the acculturation and implementation of the Carbon Account.

Contact the carbon account allies :

This portal brings together the partners who contribute their version of the implementation of the carbon account, see their sites and arguments, including the first here:

Escape-jobs
Discover

A job-based approach to protect the social justice feature of the carbon account mechanism, and its practical applications.

Agence Carbone
Discover

The detailed implementation proposal for all practical points, with a joint, independent national agency and regional adjusters to answer any questions...

Climate allowance
Discover

An offshoot of the Shifters (the activist branch of the Shift Project), it is organized as an experimentation developer and project manager.

CITEGO
Discover

For Cités, Territoires et Gouvernance, this think tank provides a considerable resource in the form of action sheets indexed in a database of over a thousand documents, accessible online.

Decarbonauts
Discover

At the initiative of CRD (Partners for the Renewal of Democracy), the Decarbonauts are preparing a co-decision assembly made up of citizens chosen by lot.

The civic pact
Discover

With the aim of jointly inventing a desirable future, the multi-regional association initiated, with the CFDT, the development of the Pacte du Pouvoir de Vivre, now joined by 38 organizations.