How to collectively engage in reducing the carbon footprint of a research lab?

<p><span lang="en-US">This communication aims at testifying how </span><span lang="en-US">individual commitments of researchers can be combined to engage a </span><span lang="en-US">whole research lab &#8211; </span><span lang="en-US">in this case</span><span lang="en-US"> INRAE RiverLy &#8211; </span><span lang="en-US">in a carbon transition path. </span><span lang="en-US">INRAE RiverLy</span> <span lang="en-US">is an interdsciplinary research unit for the management and restoration of river systems and their catchments. </span><span lang="en-US">In 2020, a group of RiverLy </span><span lang="en-US">people</span><span lang="en-US"> started </span><span lang="en-US">question</span><span lang="en-US">ing</span><span lang="en-US"> the downstream impacts of </span><span lang="en-US">their </span><span lang="en-US">research practices. An official internal action </span><span lang="en-US">called RiverLy Downstream </span><span lang="en-US">was </span><span lang="en-US">thus </span><span lang="en-US">launched to address th</span><span lang="en-US">ese</span><span lang="en-US"> issue</span><span lang="en-US">s</span><span lang="en-US">. </span><span lang="en-US">A first lab-scale carbon accounting for the year 2019 was performed </span><span lang="en-US">thanks to</span><span lang="en-US"> the GES 1point5 tool </span><span lang="en-US">(https://apps.labos1point5.org/ges-1point5)</span><span lang="en-US">. </span><span lang="en-US">It showed</span><span lang="en-US"> a large contribution of air travel to </span><span lang="en-US">the total carbon footprint. Further carbon accounting for 2020 and 2021 however highlighted the even larger impact of </span><span lang="en-US">purchases (equipment, consumables, etc.) thanks to newly implemented features in GES 1point5. </span><span lang="en-US">A</span><span lang="en-US">n open</span><span lang="en-US"> &#8220;cli</span><span lang="en-US">ma</span><span lang="en-US">te day&#8221; was organized in the lab </span><span lang="en-US">in September 2022 </span><span lang="en-US">for</span><span lang="en-US"> (1) rais</span><span lang="en-US">ing</span><span lang="en-US"> awareness through </span><span lang="en-US">a</span> <span lang="en-US">general-public-oriented</span> <span lang="en-US">tool</span><span lang="en-US">, (2) provide live feedback from other </span><span lang="en-US">research </span><span lang="en-US">labs </span><span lang="en-US">engaged </span><span lang="en-US">in </span><span lang="en-US">a carbon </span><span lang="en-US">transition, and (3) </span><span lang="en-US">collectively identify </span><span lang="en-US">propositions of</span> <span lang="en-US">local </span><span lang="en-US">actions </span><span lang="en-US">on different themes: purchases, travels, premises, computing, food, and research activities</span><span lang="en-US">. </span><span lang="en-US">These</span><span lang="en-US"> propositions </span><span lang="en-US">fed</span><span lang="en-US"> a lab-wide survey that will help defining </span><span lang="en-US">a few </span><span lang="en-US">carbon footprint reduction scenarios based on their social acceptability. </span><span lang="en-US">These scenarios will then be submitted to the lab board for implementation. </span><span lang="en-US">The whole process benefited from rich interactions with INRAE </span><span lang="en-US">national to </span><span lang="en-US">regional </span><span lang="en-US">strategy for reducing </span><span lang="en-US">its</span><span lang="en-US"> environmental footprint (https://www.inrae.fr/en/corporate-social-responsibility-inrae), and with the French national initiative </span><span lang="en-US">Labos1point5 </span><span lang="en-US">(https://labos1point5.org/)</span><span lang="en-US">.</span></p>