Accelerating France's low-carbon transition and climate resilience, preserving biodiversity and the functionality of ecosystems are government priorities in the face of the climate emergency and the erosion of biodiversity. This means that higher education and research must take up these challenges and play a major role in all areas: education, research, innovation and campus life.

Several plans and strategies have been adopted for this purpose:  

• ‘National Low Carbon Strategy’ to produce the knowledge and develop the social and technological innovations needed for a fair and equitable transition;
• ‘National Climate Change Adaptation Plan’ to pass on and refine knowledge and skills relating to environmental and sustainability issues to students, staff from the Ministry of Higher Education and Research (MESR), and the general public;  

• ‘National Biodiversity Strategy 2030’ to protect biodiversity, restore it and live with it by promoting its benefits. 

   

The implementation of these three strategic frameworks is based on three major missions: 

• The production of knowledge that must be widely shared to enlighten society, promote public debate and support public policy;
• The transmission of knowledge and the construction of a new range of training courses for students, teacher-researchers and all the MERS' staff to ensure the dissemination of new knowledge and the renewal of skills;
• The firm commitment of national research bodies and higher education institutions to contribute to the decarbonisation of activities, but also to the reduction of their environmental impact, particularly on biodiversity.

Levers for action:  

• At institutional level, one of the key measures is the provision, from the start of the 2023-2024 academic year, of ‘common core’ training modules on the challenges of the ecological transition for all undergraduate students. These modules will last at least 30 hours, aside from working hours, and may lead to certification in accordance with the procedures laid down by the institution: ECTS (‘transferable credits’), VAE (‘validation of professional experience’), open badge, portfolio, or other.  

• It is also planned to evaluate the sustainable development policy applied to research activities, real estate, transfer and training activities, which must take sustainable development issues into account.

   

More information: Plan_climat_MESR_4.pdf (dgesip.fr) 

Source: Eurydice Unit France