Sustainable development and environmental transition
Sustainable development charter
As of October 1, 2019, the charter "in favor of an ecologically and socially responsible university" adopted by the Board of Directors, endorses this commitment. This framework document was drawn up by a working group with a wide range of stakeholders from the university community, including students, associations and teaching and research experts on the subject.
This working group was thus able to draw up an initial 2018-2021 action plan for our university. Based on the major challenges of the national ecological transition strategy, 10 key themes had been selected:
- Knowledge: teaching and research
- Sustainable purchasing
- Real estate
- Waste
- Digital
- Maintenance / recycling
- Communication
- Water and energy consumption
- Transportation
- Biodiversity and public health
Various actions have been developed on several of these themes.
Dominique Pateron, Vice-President, Heritage and Sustainable DevelopmentIt's much more important to get everyone to do part of the work than to go very far with a small team of specialists and believers and leave others behind. The real approach to sustainable development is effective if everyone joins in.
The Presidency of Sorbonne University wishes to pursue, amplify and intensify the previous Sustainable Development plan, to equip our university with a plan that meets the challenges of today, in terms of the environmental impact of our establishment, the research carried out on these subjects, the initial or ongoing teaching of these concepts, or the link with cultural and social issues.
A new project manager, David Siaussat, has thus been appointed by the President to work on the 2021-2025 action plan and deploy the corresponding actions, in liaison with all stakeholders (faculties, departments, laboratories, students, student associations...).
In parallel, a new "Sustainable Development and Environmental Transition" (SD&ET) working group was set up in early 2022 to initiate this work. The group is made up of students, service and administrative staff, lecturers and researchers, as well as Mélissa Ridel, Vice Dean for Environmental Issues at the Faculty of Science and Engineering, Frédéric Billiet, Vice-Dean for Student Life, Living Environment and Sustainable Development at the Faculty of Arts, and Christophe Quesnel, Sustainable Development Officer at the Faculty of Medicine.
Greenhouse gas balance sheet
Sorbonne University's first greenhouse gas emissions balance sheet (BEGES) was presented at the Board of Directors meeting on November 10, 2020. Established for the year 2018, this balance sheet reports 52,527 teq CO2 (or CO2 equivalent) with three notable figures. Thus, of the total greenhouse gas emissions produced by the university, its activities and its staff:
- 59% are linked to purchases of services, demonstrating the preponderance of "inputs" (purchases of products, materials and services).
- Personal travel accounts for only 15% of emissions. Compared with most French universities - the national average being close to 50% - this low percentage is explained by the intramural nature of most Sorbonne Université campuses, enabling staff and students to use campus transport to get to their place of work.
- Energy consumption (electricity, heating, etc.) accounts for 13% of the university's greenhouse gas emissions.
The Greenhouse Gas Emissions Balance Sheet (BEGES) is a legal requirement for all companies with over 500 employees. Commissioned from EcoActe following a call for tenders, Sorbonne University's BEGES is based on a validated methodology involving the collection of raw data, the use of emission factors produced by ADEME, and the provision of a breakdown of emissions in order to draw up recommendations for action.
"The recommendations made to us relate in particular to the definition of a responsible purchasing policy, the reduction of heating emissivity through renovation and energy-saving measures, and the extension of the lifespan of certain equipment or its recycling.A specific plan for clean transport, and in particular cycling, is currently being rolled out," explains Dominique Pateron, Vice President, Heritage and Sustainable Development.
Education in environmental issues
With regard to its core business, Sorbonne University has been committed since 2018 to integrating sustainable development into its curricula, promoting research and innovation on these issues, and raising citizens' awareness of environmental challenges. An Environment minor is thus available to all students at the university wishing to acquire a solid culture of environmental issues and society's ecological transition, with the basic scientific knowledge needed to understand these issues and identify solutions.
In 2021, the Module Transition Environnementale (MTE) has been set up with the help of the Alliance Sorbonne Université's Institute for Environmental Transition. The aim of this module is to give all students, whatever their level and course of study, and all staff, whatever their background, a knowledge base enabling them to understand the changes underway, so that they can contribute to the individual and collective approaches that are inventing sustainable transition models.