LSCE is committed to reduce its carbon footprint and, more generally, the impact of its activities on the environment. In early 2020, the “ecological footprint” working group (GT-EE) was set up at LSCE with approval and support of its management. It role is to think collectively about concrete actions that could be implemented and to make proposals to the management team. The work of the GT-EE is linked more generally to the reflections and approach of the IPSL ClimAction group at Ile-de-France level and the Labos 1point5 collective at national level (LSCE is one of the pilot laboratories for the Labo1.5 experiment).
LSCE’s carbon footprint
The first action undertaken by the GT-EE was to establish the laboratory’s carbon footprint. We first established a method and a suitable calculation tool, and then calculated the laboratory’s carbon footprint for the years 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023 (in progress).
The results show that purchasing is the main source of emissions, followed by staff travel and outsourced scientific activities (field campaigns and computing time). These results are similar to those of the IPSL’s partner laboratories and the supervisory bodies such as CNRS and CEA.
We try to maintain an annual calculation and monitoring of the LSCE’s carbon footprint in order to follow the evolution of the different emission items and evaluate the impact of the actions put in place.
The GT-EE Group
Group coordinator: Marc Delmotte
The GT-EE is led by a facilitator who represents the LSCE within ClimAction and Labos 1point5 at meetings, proposes the agenda for monthly meetings and liaises with management and supervisory bodies (where applicable). The group is made up of around twenty volunteers from the laboratory (permanent staff, non-permanent staff, technicians, engineers, PhD students and administrative staff) and is open to all.
Actions taken by the LSCE
Here are a few examples of actions implemented at LSCE:
- No air travel in mainland France or destinations reachable in less than 5 hours by train
- Minimum 5-year lifespan for IT equipment
- Setting up a forest garden on a plot of green space on the site with scientific monitoring
- Provision of electric bikes and a bike repair point
- Organisation of and participation in ClimAction week
- Employee training and awareness-raising
- Involvement in actions at institutional level (reflection, training, awareness-raising)
