Thread by @jb_sallee

[THREAD written w/ @YonaSilvy now translated after numerous requests from our english speaking colleagues]

On sept 29, our lab LOCEAN voted & adopted to a large majority 3 measures to ↘️ its carbon footprint by 50% by 2030, notably by ↘️✈️

How did we get here and why? ⬇️

A bit of context: researchers at LOCEAN have been contributing for years to the results that are feeding the IPCC reports, showing that climate change is a reality whose impacts are felt more and more strongly, here and elsewhere. 2/n

Recent flash floods in the Mediterranean region and the many heat waves are shattering proofs that France is not immune to the impacts of climate change and that the latter are perceptible and intensifying. 3/n

Facing these facts, France has committed alongside 194 countries through the Paris Agreement, to cut its GHG emissions in order to contain global surface warming bell below 2°C. 4/n

This is derived in France in the “National low-carbon strategy” (NLCS) with fixed carbon budgets per 5-year periods, translated in goals involving every economic sector and that have to be supported at all levels: citizens, local communities, companies. 5/n

LOCEAN counts ~180 employees, equivalent to a mid-size firm, one of the levels of action of the NLCS.
What was the process that lead to an engagement of the lab on concrete measures of action to reduce its C footprint? 6/n

In Oct 2018, following the release of the IPCC 1.5 Special Report, the climate walks and the many talks around coffee, the “climactions” group was born at LOCEAN, which meant to gather individual initiatives and share thoughts and actions. 7/n

A 1st estimate of the C budget of the lab emanated from this group. In 2018, LOCEAN emitted 9.5tCO2e/pers (=professional footprint only) vs. 11.2tCO2e for the national average (prof+perso). Half of this footprint is due to traveling (conferences, meetings, field work, ..) 8/n

However, as for national emissions, our emissions are very unequally distributed. 30% of travel-related emissions are due to 5% of employees. Practises are thus very different among researchers. 9/n

This estimate of the GHG budget and its analysis are an essential step to identify if and how we want to reduce our emissions. The implementation of a measuring tool is also necessary. 10/n

In Nov 2019, climactions organised a 2-day retreat with around 20 people, from which 18 concrete propositions emerged to reduce our carbon footprint, grouped in 3 topics: 11/n

- Systematically quantify our C footprint
- Reduce the footprint of our travels in a fair way, by reconsidering our practices
- Engage a discussion with our administrative supervision on the other sectors 12/n

These propositions have been presented and discussed has part of a LOCEAN seminar at the end of 2019, then LOCEAN asked an independent representative group of staff to assess if LOCEAN would be ready to accept those propositions
13/n

From Jan to Jul, this group of 7 investigated through numerous discussions and polls, and engaged constructive discussions between the board of directors and climactions.
14/n

They concluded at the summer 2020 with three main points:
-The immediate implementation of rules allowing a better monitoring of LOCEAN carbon footprintt, by systematically assessing carbon footprint of travels (conf, meeting, field work)
15/n

- The immediate distribution of a list of caterers chosen upon environmental and social criteria, to be used for all events organised at LOCEAN
16/n

- Hold a vote on 3 proposit°:
1) To Agree on the principle to ↘️ by 50% our GHG emissions by 2030
2) To ban the use of plane for any trips where train is <5h
3) To limit individual travel related GHG emissions to a set annual quota
17/n

Individual C quotas ↘️ with time so allow a ↘️ by 50% our travel GHG emissions by 2030, + it allows for a fairer distribution of emissions between staffs (#climatejustice), with a number of exception (e.g. join ship, travel > 1 month). 18/n

These propositions have been voted in September with the agreement of the board of directors, and numerous informal and fruitful discussions and seminar have been organized to discussed those before the vote! 19/n

On the 29th Sept, LOCEAN’s staff voted yes with > 80% for the 3 propositions, making us very proud to lead the way in ambitious rules to ↘️ our C footprint. Objectives and measures will be monitored and reassessed on an annual basis. 20/n

We strongly believe that if the vote was a success this is because the entire process was bottom-up, and strongly inclusive, and because we let the time to exchange, and discuss widely. 21/n

If this is a great first step, this is not the last. The third proposition “only” reduces travel related emissions, which will only reduce our footprint by a ¼.
22/n

Much work remains to address the reduction of the remainder of our remissions, with some important and difficult topics, questioning the limits of our activities, and where we setup working groups at national level.
23/n

@labos1point5 has developed a carbon calculator for labs and dept, soon available to allow every labs to assessing and monitoring their carbon footprint assessment
25/n

To conclude, the much-needed reduction of emissions at all level in the society came questioning our practice in academia and how we can change or adapt them
26/n

Last Nov, very few of us thought that the proposition we were putting together would be adopted with such enthusiasm. We show here that an ambitious and non-authoritarian commitment of a structure of ~200 staff is possible. 27/n

We are convinced that other public or private organisation can follow similar trajectories, with a much wider welcome than what can sometimes be feared [28/n]

A thread co-authored with @YonaSilvy. For more info, please DM.
(poke @altagliabue @meredith_mmm @BalwadaDhruv @ThomsenSoeren)

And here the poster in better quality for those interested