Ecole Polytechnique delivers its first sustainable development certificates
The Ecole Polytechnique (l’X) has awarded its first sustainable development certificates to the 2019 class of Polytechnique engineering students, who have reached the end of their third year of the four-year program.
This certificate is part of the commitments made by the Ecole Polytechnique on sustainable development. In the field of education. These commitments are reflected in the initial training of all X students in the issues of sustainable development and ecological transition, and in the cretation of a certificate open to all students and offering a more complete scientific approach to these issues in the various scientific fields studied at l’X.
The certificate is obtained at the end of the program by validating the courses and lectures mainly taken in the 2nd and 3rd years of the Polytechnic engineering cycle or during the two years of the Master's program. An analysis of the internship experience in terms of social and environmental responsibility issues is also required. Registration for the certificate is voluntary.
For the X19, the first class to benefit from this certificate, students must validate their participation in eight Coriolis Institute for the Environment conferences. Created in 2008, the Coriolis Institute aims to support, encourage and promote transdisciplinary research on the environment or on problems related to the environment, as well as to be a showcase for the activities in this field of the laboratories of the École Polytechnique Research Center.
To obtain the certificate, students must take at least five courses from a list of more than 60 "Sustainability Competency" courses, with the requirement that at least two courses cover different subjects. One of these courses can be replaced by participating in the Energy4Climate (E4C) Interdisciplinary Research Center International Student Challenge.
Finally, a critical assessment of the Environmental and Social Responsibility (ESR) issues of the host company or research laboratory for the internship must be carried out on the basis of a questioning grid, previously provided.
The certificate is awarded at the same time as the diploma, provided that these three criteria are met.
Out of the 130 students registered for this first campaign, 52 students validated the certificate. The attractiveness of the certificate was confirmed in 2021 with 153 registrants.
In line with the growing awareness of the climate emergency, Ecole Polytechnique is integrating environmental and energy transition issues into its missions and campus operations as part of a broad, participatory process involving its students, academic teams, staff and many partners.
These commitments, which have been identifiable since the end of the 1990s, accelerated significantly in the late 2010s. On the occasion of the international conference "RefleXions: Research, Training and Action for Sustainable Development" organized in June 2019, the School made five major commitments that were implemented in two years: the training of all its students in the challenges of sustainable development, the establishment of a certification of training in sustainable development, the creation of an interdisciplinary center on renewable energy (Energy4Climate), the launch of an international student challenge dedicated to the energy transition and the targeting of a carbon neutral campus in 2050. With the publication of its Climate Plan in early 2022, the School has placed the climate and ecological emergency at the heart of its missions.