The Avenir Commun Durable initiative - Energy, Environment, Society was born in 2021 from the desire of Collège de France professors to take action on the challenges of climate change. Their aim is to combine their expertise, analyses and knowledge to decipher the challenges of the environmental and energy transition. History, mathematics, economics, physics, law, chemistry... The project seeks to break down the barriers between fields of expertise, so as to grasp the challenges ahead in all their complexity.
More than ever, public debate needs to be based on certified information and data. The aim of Avenir Commun Durable is to share the results of its research with everyone, while taking into account the uncertainties and debates inherent in the scientific process. Thematic conferences open to all and with free access will be held regularly at the Collège de France to publicize advances in current research on climate change issues and possible solutions. In particular, professors will be reaching out to young people, especially students, to provide them with reliable scientific information to support their mobilization in favor of the ecological transition.
Last but not least, Avenir Commun Durable is adding an Annual Chair dedicated to these issues, to enable us to invite renowned researchers each year to shed new, high-level scientific light on these subjects. In 2024-2025, the chair will welcome CEA researcher François-Marie Bréon, a specialist in the use of space observations to understand climate processes and track their evolution. In previous years, the chair has also welcomed Christian Gollier, founder and director of the prestigious Toulouse School of Economics, Laurence Boisson de Chazournes, Professor of Law at the University of Geneva, and Kyle Harper, Professor of Classics and Letters at the University of Oklahoma and the Fractal Faculty of the Santa Fe Institute.
The initiative is supported by the Collège de France Foundation, its patrons Faurecia and Saint-Gobain, and its major sponsors La Fondation Covéa and TotalEnergies, who also helped create the Avenir Commun Durable chair.
