In line with the reform of the new civil service law, voluntary sustainable development chargés de mission de développement durable volontaires have been appointed within CRI. Their role will be to propose and lead actions to reduce the Center’s carbon footprint and promote sustainable development.
The Centre’s carbon footprint for 2022 and 2023 is available below.
With regard to sustainable development in research, the two research expenditure items 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 been questioning the environmental impact of their research activities, whether on an individual basis, or at the level of a research program or institution….
High-emission practices: air travel and computer equipment
The observation is unanimous and the concern shared. And yet, the practices and habits of the research world emit large quantities of greenhouse gases (GHGs), whether we’re talking about air travel, experimental equipment, buildings and infrastructures, computer hardware and its renewal, receptions at conferences, etc. To observe this, let’s focus on two sources of emissions: air travel and IT equipment.
Outside the world of research and on a global scale, GHG emissions linked to air travel are the responsibility of a minority of individuals (11% of the world’s population took a plane in 2018, 4% for an international flight), which partly explains why they only account for 2% of global emissions. In the world of research, on the other hand, flights are the main source of emissions.
Today, business travel is an integral 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 less expensive, and allowing access to far-flung destinations, the airplane is often the preferred means of transport for these trips….
IT equipment is another major source of greenhouse gas emissions and, more generally, of pollution from research. Admittedly, it remains a secondary item compared with air travel, building operation or particularly heavy scientific equipment in certain disciplines. Nevertheless, the case of IT is interesting in that it concerns all disciplines, and can be assessed relatively reliably by means of an individual questionnaire. Finally, this is an area where actions to reduce emissions can potentially be implemented by adjusting the pace of equipment renewal, without necessarily affecting the core of research activities.
Interview with Gilles Bloch, November 17, 2022
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