Overview of our strategy

The urgency of climate and environmental issues requires all public players to play an active role in France’s energy, ecological and social transition.

The end of 2022 and the year 2023 both mark a new phase in our approach to social and environmental responsibility. A Vice President for major transitions was appointed in September 2022 to provide political leadership on these issues. The scope of action has also been extended to include our 35 member and associate institutions.

This led to the creation of a network of contact persons within our 35 institutions. To mark this openness and collective ambition, the Université de Lyon held the site’s first “Assises de la transition” (Transition Conferences) on June 7, 2023.

To mark the occasion, a new charter was signed by the 35 directors of the institutions. In order to explicitly include the social component that is essential for the transition, the approach is now qualified as “Social and Environmental Responsibility” (RSE - Responsabilité socétiale et environnementale). Based on the priorities defined by our institutions, a 2023/2024 strategy has been jointly developed by the contact persons, setting out the operational actions to be implemented during the 2023/2024 academic year. The priorities of this strategy will be addressed by working groups led by volunteer institutions. These actions are in line with the Sustainable Development & Corporate Social Responsibility (DDRSE - Développement durable, responsabilité sociétale et environnementale) Master Plans required by the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research.

Raising awareness, educating and mobilizing the university community are essential levers for changing societal practices and habits. This issue was highlighted by the Jouzel report, part of whose content was taken up by the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research in its Climate & Biodiversity Plan.

The aim of this priority area is to provide training courses to improve skills and translate the objectives of ecological transition into university professions, such as administrative and technical staff, research professors, lecturers and so on. These courses take an approach based on awareness-raising, education and mobilization. This also involves the mass implementation of awareness-raising workshops.

Two types of travel are distinguished for this priority area:

• Daily commuting, which concerns the entire university community. On average, these daily trips account for 14.1% of an institution’s carbon footprint.
• Long-distance travel, which includes students on academic assignments (internships, gap years, international mobility etc.) and administrative and/or research staff on professional assignments. On average, this type of travel accounts for 12.5% of an institution’s carbon footprint, with significant variations between institutions (especially those where international student mobility is mandatory), where the carbon footprint can be as high as 55%.

The aim of this priority area is to combine recommendations, tools and awareness-raising activities in order to reduce these emissions.

Source: Guide to Decarbonizing Higher Education ("Guide de décarbonation de l’enseignement supérieur").

Purchasing accounts for a significant portion of an institution’s carbon footprint. On average, it represents 16% of the total carbon footprint, with considerable variability.

Responsible purchasing takes into account issues such as the local economy, social concerns and climate change. And it is all the more important for public purchasers to take these issues into account, as they are enshrined in regulations.

A responsible purchasing policy therefore aims to support the implementation of a global approach, control an institution’s carbon footprint, and strengthen the economic efficiency of its purchasing while supporting innovation. It is also about anticipating future regulations, which will become increasingly restrictive in the coming years.

Tackling social and environmental challenges requires dedicated governance, strong political commitment and a defined control and assessment system. It is therefore important to address this issue within the institutions and throughout the entire site, as outlined in the Ministry of Higher Education and Research’s Climate & Biodiversity Plan (FR).

The site’s strategy reflects a collective ambition and provides a framework for action within the member institutions. The strategy was developed between September, 2016, and July, 2017.

This document sets out the strategy’s objectives and identifies ways of mobilizing users. It identifies three timepoints, 2020, 2030 and 2050, which refer to the main national deadlines outlined in the French law on energy transition for green growth (FR), in regional and territorial energy strategies and in France’s commitments under international climate agreements.

The strategy covers the entire site, irrespective of the member institution. It was designed collaboratively between multiple stakeholders, by gathering opinions and suggestions. The site’s strategy is the result of consolidated work, which has enabled it to confirm the operational feasibility of the path it intends to follow. 

The document presents the strategy’s various levers for action:

The most-effective means of action lies in continuing to renovate the site’s buildings, accompanied by a strong energy conservation policy. Renewable energy will play an increasing part in our energy consumption and will eventually be partly produced on the Lyon Saint-Étienne university site.

Firstly addressing climate and ecological challenges, the energy transition of the Université de Lyon will also enable the site to reduce its operational costs for the benefit of its primary mission: education and research.

The Université de Lyon and its institutions are adapting the way they operate to the need to protect the environment and health, in partnership with local authorities and the Crous de Lyon. Because of the need to improve awareness of its environmental impact, particularly in the areas of water, waste and travel, the objectives and the nature of the actions to be taken to achieve them have been clearly identified.

The main challenge of the ecological transition consists in placing health and the protection of natural resources at the heart of use and management practice.

As part of its educational mission, the Lyon Saint-Étienne site is responsible for raising students’ awareness of the challenges of the energy and ecological transition. Their academic careers must prepare them to be enlightened and responsible citizens, both in their personal conduct and in their future professional lives, regardless of the training program they are pursuing.

The site’s energy and ecological transition would be impossible without the active involvement of everyone who visits the site and breathes life into it each day.

Governance, cooperation and organizing skills: it is on these foundations that the Université de Lyon and its member institutions have committed to working together to make their energy and ecological transition a success.

To meet the ambitious objectives that it has set itself, cooperation is a means of accelerating success. In particular, it will enable the site to pool vital skills to implement its action plans.

This strategy was adopted by the Université de Lyon Board of Directors on March 13, 2018. The development of the strategy mobilized the departments of the 12 member institutions considerably. The Université de Lyon would like to thank everyone who contributed to this work, particularly the energy and ecological transition officers and property management.

The situation at each institution was assessed, resulting in the preparation of a monograph on these issues for each institution. A summary of the situation for the whole site has also been drawn up.

Download the assessment (summary version – April 2016 – in French)

Since 2015, the Université de Lyon and its member institutions have been committed to this approach. By signing the Energy and Ecological Transition Charter on November 2, 2015, the Université de Lyon and its member institutions committed to making the energy and ecological transition of the Lyon Saint-Étienne university site a success. In light of the urgency of climate and environmental issues, this transition holds all public players responsible. The Université de Lyon is particularly concerned about making its first mission educational, in order to inform the public about these issues and to help improve their understanding.

This EET charter marked the start of a two-stage process, supported technically and financially by the Caisse des Dépôts.

Download the EET Charter (in French)

2022/2023 - A new scope, a new charter and a new strategy

2017 - The site's strategy

2016 - Assessment of the situation at each site

2015 - First commitment