École Polytechnique publishes its Climate Plan and puts sustainable development at the heart of its missions and its campus

École Polytechnique is stepping up its commitment in favour of the ecological transition with the publication of its Climate Plan. This plan integrates sustainable development into its core missions of training, research and innovation and into the operation of its campus.

The publication of École Polytechnique’s Climate Plan emphasises its engagement to build a more sustainable world. It asserts its ambition to fully integrate the ecological transition into all of its core missions of training, research and innovation and into the operation of its campus.

Resulting from a broad and participatory process involving academic teams, students, staff and the School’s partners, this Climate Plan sets out 10 achievable objectives for the next 5 years, grouped into 3 pillars – train and engage, develop and innovate, and reduce and make accountable – to deeply transform the behaviours and contribute to the advent of a responsible and sustainable prosperity.

École Polytechnique’s Climate Plan is an extension of the strong commitments to fight against global warming made by the School during the international symposium “RefleXions: Research, educate and act for sustainable development” organised in June 2019, as part of its 225th anniversary.

Therefore, in 2020, the School published its first carbon footprint report for the campus, making it possible to establish a diagnosis and define emission reduction trajectories to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

It has anchored this new stage of ecological transition within Institut Polytechnique de Paris (IP Paris), which has enabled it to join forces with four other prestigious engineering Schools: ENSTA Paris, ENSAE Paris, Telecom Paris and Telecom SudParis. Within this framework, it has continued to deploy its sustainable development training modules and the research activities of IP Paris' interdisciplinary centre, Energy4Climate (E4C).

Since its creation, École Polytechnique has never ceased to accompany and shape the economic, technical and societal transformations that have taken place and that have led to progress for the benefit of the greatest number. The School's commitment to sustainable development resonates with its original mission of promoting science in education, research and innovation at the highest level and in the service of the common good. Complex and global, environmental challenges must be tackled with humility, agility, a long-term vision and within the framework of a multidisciplinary approach that the School has carried since its origins.

The 10 objectives of the five-year Climate Plan

1 - Integrate hours of applied training on sustainability issues in 100% of professional courses

2 - Triple the number of hours of mandatory training on sustainability issues for all training courses

3 - Train our collaborators and enable them to apply the ecological transition on a daily basis

4 - Create a campus demonstrating the transition, relying on its research and innovation communities

5 - Integrate sustainable development as a paradigm in 100% of our structuring research projects

6 - Feed a climate fund to support transition actions within the School

7 - Produce an annual mapping of research at IP Paris level on environmental issues and its impact

8 - Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% per campus user in terms of energy

9 - Ensure that 50% of orders are based on responsible purchasing criteria

10 - Create a heart of the campus devoted to soft modes of transport
 

  
About École Polytechnique

École Polytechnique, also known as L’X, is the leading French institution combining top-level research, academics, and innovation at the cutting-edge of science and technology. Its various undergraduate and graduate-level programs – Bachelor of Science, Ingénieur Polytechnicien (Master’s level program), Master’s, and PhD – are highly selective and promote a culture of excellence with a strong emphasis on science, anchored in humanist traditions. As a widely internationalized university, École Polytechnique offers a variety of international programs and attracts a growing number of foreign students and researchers from around the globe (currently 41% of students and 40% of faculty members). 

École Polytechnique offers an exceptional education to prepare bright men and women to excel in top-level key positions and lead complex and innovative projects which meet the challenges of 21st century society, all while maintaining a keen sense of their civil and social responsibilities. With its 23 laboratories, 22 of which are joint research units with the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), the École Polytechnique Research Center explores the frontiers of interdisciplinary knowledge to provide major contributions to science, technology, and society. École Polytechnique is a founding member of Institut Polytechnique de Paris.