In accordance with the reform relating to the new civil service law, c responsible for voluntary sustainable development missions have been appointed within the CRI. These project managers will be responsible for proposing and leading actions aimed at reducing the Centre’s carbon footprint and promoting sustainable development.
The Centre’s 2022 and 2023 carbon footprint is available below
Concerning sustainable development in research, the two expenditure items in research where the carbon footprint is particularly high are air travel and the purchase of computers.
For a little over a decade, more and more members of the academic community have questioned the environmental impact of their research activities, whether individually, or on the scale of a research program or an institution….
Highly emitting practices: airplane flights and computer equipment
The conclusion is unanimous and the concern shared. However, the practices and habits of the world of research are high emitters of greenhouse gases (GHGs), whether in terms of air travel, experimental devices, buildings and infrastructure, computer equipment and its renewal, receptions at congresses, etc. To observe this, let’s focus on two sources of emissions: air travel and computer equipment.
Outside the world of research and on a global scale, GHG emissions related to air travel are the result of a minority of individuals (11% of the world population took a plane in 2018, 4% for an international flight), which partly explains why they represent only 2% of global emissions. In the world of research, where they are usual, flights are the first source of emissions.
Indeed, business trips are now a constituent part of research activity: conferences abroad, fieldwork or observations in distant countries, research stays, teaching , participation in juries or international research programs. Faster than the train, sometimes cheaper, and allowing access to distant destinations, the plane is often the preferred means of transport for these trips….
Computer hardware is another major area of greenhouse gas emissions and research pollution more generally. It certainly remains a secondary item compared to air travel, the operation of buildings, or particularly heavy scientific equipment in certain disciplines. Nevertheless, the case of computer science is interesting in that it concerns all disciplines and can be apprehended relatively reliably through an individual questionnaire. Finally, it is an area where actions to reduce emissions can potentially be implemented by playing on the rate of renewal of equipment, without necessarily affecting the core of research activities.
Interview with Gilles Bloch of November 17, 2022
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