Working Group: Ecological Transition

For the CNRS

Following an initial assessment of greenhouse gas emissions, a low-carbon transition plan has been presented to CNRS management. The first actions are scheduled to begin in November and concern four initial themes: purchasing, digital, mobility and energy.

To limit global warming to 1.5 degrees by 2100, we must become carbon neutral by 2050. The Paris Agreements set the objective of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 40% by 20301 . “Research has a role to play, not only in proposing solutions but also in adopting practices that are compatible with this objective,” says Alain Schuhl, Deputy Director General for Science at CNRS. After analyzing the results of its first greenhouse gas emissions assessment based on 2019 data, CNRS is embarking on an “ambitious and necessary” low-carbon transition plan: “This plan is part of CNRS’s strategy to reduce the impact of French research on the environment, while maintaining its excellence.


For UCBL 1

Implementation of the MESRI circular of 24/09/2022 concerning the implementation of the energy sobriety plan within the higher education and research operators and the network of works.

Elements of reflection of the sobriety policy of the institution: The principles: We must be able to face the crisis, maintain our investment capacity, meet the objective of 40% energy savings in 2030 (on the tertiary parts) and reach 60% in 2050.

The proposed orientations are to ensure quality and educational continuity without closing, to create an energy reflex, and to respond to the need to communicate. There are 3 possible levers as follows:

  • The pure and hard rationing of energy consumption or the possibility of temporarily reducing energy consumption (closure)
  • The efficiency or the improvement of the technical performances of the uses of each one: actions of investment of the university, CPER (Contract of plan State-Region)1, to be pursued in several times
  • Sobriety or changes in use, behavior or consumption practices generating a decrease in energy consumption.

Members of the working group


Meeting notes


  1. In order to create a leverage effect, the credits that the State makes available within the framework of France relance are intended to be supplemented by co-financing from local authorities. The State and local authorities will thus commit themselves reciprocally, within the framework of regional recovery agreements and, at the sub-regional level, within the framework of the contract for recovery and ecological transition (CRTE), which could be the declination of the territorial section of the CPER. ↩︎