The University’s contribution to climate research and teaching

Climate research at Université Paris-Saclay

Université Paris-Saclay has made “Energy, Climate, Environment, Sustainable Development’ one of its eight key societal challenges, and strives to intensify its research in this area. 

Several of the university’s laboratories work to achieve this:

• The laboratory for Cultures, Environment, Arctic, Representations, Climate - CEARC (UPSaclay/UVSQ)
• The Centre for International Research on Environment and Development - CIRED (UPSaclay/APT/CNRS/EHESS/CIRAD)
• The Geosciences Paris-Saclay Laboratory - GEOPS (UPSaclay/CNRS)
• The Laboratory for Climate and Environment Sciences – LSCE (UPSaclay/CNRS/CEA/UVSQ)
• The Atmospheres, Environments, Space Observations Laboratory – LATMOS (UPSaclay/CNRS/UVSQ/Sorbonne Université). 

Alongside other laboratories, the last three laboratories in this list form part of the Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace (IPSL), an institute specialised in climate science research. 

Hosting a technical support unit for the IPCC

Since 2018, Université Paris-Saclay has hosted a technical support unit for Working Group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), as part of the university’s desire to contribute to the advancement of climate knowledge. The unit has contributed to the evaluation of knowledge on the physical basis of climate change and has also worked on producing content for wider audiences, with the Climate Change 2021: Summary for All report. Numerous academics and climate experts working at Université Paris-Saclay, or linked to the university, have contributed to IPCC reports.

The synthesis report of the sixth assessment report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was published on Monday 20 March 2023. Written by a group of international authors, the new report summarises the scientific knowledge acquired between 2015 and 2021 on climate change, its causes, impacts and the possible measures to alleviate it and adapt. 

In the sixth report, several academics linked to the university’s ecosystem made significant contributions: Valérie Masson-Delmotte, palaeoclimatologist, research director at the LSCE and co-chair of Working Group I at the IPCC; Sophie Szopa, atmospheric chemist at the LSCE, IPCC Working Group I coordinating lead author for the chapter on reactive species and their impact on the climate; Robert Vautard, meteorologist and climatologist, CNRS research director and director of the IPSL since 2022, coordinating lead author for the chapter on risks linked to regional climate changes; Jérôme Servonnat, research engineer at the LSCE, chapter scientist for the report; Pascale Braconnot, palaeoclimatologist at the LSCE, review editor for the chapter on water cycle changes; Franck Lecocq, economist specialised in climate change and director of the CIRED, coordinating lead author on the chapter on mitigation and development pathways of the IPCC Working Group III report; Céline Guivarch, economist specialised in climate change at the CIRED, lead author on the chapter on mitigation and development pathways of the IPCC Working Group III report and, Nathalie De Noblet-Ducoudré contributed to the chapter on the relationship between land and climate in the special report on the links between climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas flows in land ecosystems. 

Alliance for Climate Change Now!

The University’s interdisciplinary project “Alliance for Climate Change Now!” (AllCAN) contributes to research and teaching on climate issues, and oversees the interdisciplinary scientific coordination of the university’s Graduate Schools in this area.  

Climate programmes at Université Paris-Saclay

“The Alliance for Climate Change Now!” interdisciplinary project has launched an institutional degree called “Climate Action” which aims to help students master the reasons for and the challenges of climate and ecological transitions, to complement and give a new perspective to their full-time academic programmes, whether they be in science and engineering, life sciences or humanities and social sciences. The degree will be open as a continuing education course for the academic year of 2023/2024. 

In addition, much of the university’s teaching in climate issues take place in the second year of Master’s degrees. Four Master’s programmes are focused on climate studies:

2nd year Master’s programme: Climate, land use and ecosystem services (CLUES)
- Graduate School BIOSPHERA
The overarching objective of this programme is to provide students with the scientific knowledge, know-how and skills necessary to understand the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems in response to major drivers such as climate change, land-use change patterns and ecosystem management technologies. Graduates from this programme will gain in-depth knowledge of biosphere-climate interactions, acquire methods to assess ecosystem services, and be fully aware of the panel of technological options available in terms of land-use planning management to promote the sustainable development in rural and semi-urban areas.
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2nd year Master’s programme: Adaptation to Climate Change
- Graduate School: Geosciences, Climate, Environment, Planets – Track: STePE + Graduate School: Sociology and Political Science – Track: Development and Environmental Studies
The objective of this programme is to provide students with the concepts and methodology to allow them to assist public or private organisations experiencing the consequences of global environmental and climate changes, with a focus on sustainability.
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2nd year Master’s programme: Climate and the Media
- Graduate School: Geosciences, Climate, Environment, Planets – Track: STePE + Graduate School: Sociology and Political Science – Track: Development and Environmental Studies
The objective of this programme is to provide French-speaking journalists and communication professionals (beginners and experts) with the methodology and scientific content they need to include climate and environmental information in news coverage.
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2nd year Master’s programme: Studying the Climates of the Earth (ECLAT)
- Graduate School: Geosciences, Climate, Environment, Planets – Track: STePE 
This programme teaches students how to master the tools used to observe and measure the physical and geochemical parameters which describe the climate system on different time scales, as well as the different methods for analysing these parameters.
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