D'apres Termium Plus.

French term (edited): amortissement annuel des émissions

"amortissement annuel" generally means "annual depreciation" as suggested above, but in this case however. Source: http://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais-anglais/amorti...

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Note added at 1 hr (2009-12-10 12:01:10 GMT)
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I meant "but not in this case however".

Why not? Amortization isn't just applied to money, it can be other, less tangible, costs too.

I think this may be one where you need to get some more info from your client as there are several approaches to this sort of thing in the enviro. world.

However, the following might help, it's from the French and English versions of an online GHG calculator, and it at least gives an explanation of what this is about:

"Amortissements
Les émissions prises en compte pour l’amortissement des immobilisations sont les émissions liées à la production des biens, rapportées à leur durée d’amortissement. Exemple : les émissions liés à la fabrication d’un photocopieur sont de 3 300 kg CO2e, sa durée d’amortissement est de 3 ans, le bilan annuel des émissions tiendra donc compte de 1/3 de ces émissions soit 1 100 kg CO2e. Dès que le matériel aura plus de 3 ans, l’impact lié à sa fabrication sera considéré comme nul."

"Depreciation
The emissions taken into account for the amortization (depreciation) of assets are those associated with the production of goods, in relation to the amortization (depreciation) period. Example: emissions associated with the manufacturing of a photocopy machine amount to 3,300 kg CO2e, its depreciation period is 3 years, the annual assessment of emissions will take into account 1/3 of the emissions, meaning 1,100 kg CO2e. When the equipment is older than 3 years, the impact associated with its manufacturing will be considered to be zero."

It's from Actioncarbone (a reputable bunch !!)

Hope that's of some help....