Research

Energy 4 Climate

The E4C center structures its scientific activities into 8 thematic research actions responding to the challenges of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, reducing energy consumption and increasing the share of renewable energy in the energy mix.

IPCC

The IPCC Working Group I, located in Ile-de-France, provides scientific information relevant for the global community to meet the challenge of climate change. As well as the global scale, WGI looks at variability and changes happening at a regional level, which is closely tied to how impacts and risks to human and natural systems are changing over time. This is, in turn, relates to the assessment of WGII and the need to design effective climate change adaptation policies. Other important policy dimensions of WGI are the assessment of the amount of carbon emissions compatible with climate and energy targets; interactions between land and the climate; and links between climate and air quality. All of these aspects are closely connected with the assessment of WGIII and strategies to mitigate against the impacts of climate change.

French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission

The CEA’s research focuses on past and future climate changes from the viewpoint of a few decades to geological time scales, their relationships with the carbon cycle, their impact on the environment and their links with the living world (man, ecosystems). On a smaller time scale (0-20 years), the purpose of the research is to gain a detailed understanding of current climate changes associated with human activity (greenhouse gas emissions) and their local effects, in particular with regard to extreme phenomena. The CEA is also studying earthquakes and tsunamis.

AllEnvi national environmental research alliance

Food, climate, water, land use AllEnvi brings together public research efforts to program and coordinate France’s environmental science strategy, which emphasizes adaptation to and attenuation of the effects of climate change. Improving observational data for better climate modeling is a key part
of the Ocean component of the European Global Monitoring for Environment and Security program. Along with climate, several other thematic areas take climatology into account in a cross-cutting way: agroecology and soil, food processing, biodiversity, water, environmental evaluation, oceans and seas, and risks.

ADEME, environment and energy security agency

ADEME supports research and development into vehicles, buildings, new energy technologies, and ways to use alternative and renewable energy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The agency participated in the national climate plan in 2004 and helped businesses complete their own carbon assessments.

GIS, scientific interest group on climate, environment, and society

Through its 13 laboratories and the Île-de-France research federation, the GIS supports and coordinates interdisciplinary research on climate change and its environmental and social effects. Work is conducted in the areas of climatology, hydrology, ecology, economics, health, the social sciences, and the humanities. Researchers rely on Système Terre (earth system) digital
modeling tools and the Earth observation platforms. The GIS Climat-Environnement-Société funds visits from high-level foreign scholars and researchers. It provides seed funding and support for interdisciplinary projects that will be integrated with European and international scientific programs. It also supports communication and training initiatives in the sciences.

ONERC, national observatory on the effects of global warming

In 2001, France established a national observatory on the effects of global warming. The observatory has three major missions: – To gather and disseminate information, research, and studies on risks linked to global warming and extreme weather events – To formulate recommendations concerning measures to prevent and adapt to climate change – To dialogue with developing countries to facilitate their energy transition. ONERC is France’s official point of contact with the IPCC. Since 2011, ONERC’s website has made available documentation and research, thus becoming the portal of choice on climate change.