Atmospheric Science Day 2023

Le numérique, un choix de société compatible avec la transition écologique ?

L’éco-conception, un levier d’action pour la sobriété numérique

3rd CLIMACT Seminar Series - Episode #12

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CLIMACT

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Designed to help find high-impact, interdisciplinary solutions through direct dialogue with key actors engaged in climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Events

Affiliated with UNIL and EPFL, the Center for Climate Impact and Action (CLIMACT) was officially launched in June 2021. The center's main objective is to promote climate change mitigation and adaptation solutions through a collaborative and interdisciplinary approach. By working with various pillars of society such as media, politicians, and industry leaders, CLIMACT aims to bridge the gap between science and society. Through increased exchange and collaboration, we can accelerate a transformation towards a sustainable and inclusive future.

CLIMACT's unique approach to tackling climate change aims to be both innovative and inspiring. Our inter-institutional and interdisciplinary approach fosters a sense of community and encourages individuals from all walks of life to come together and work towards a common goal. By promoting awareness and facilitating discussions, CLIMACT is playing a vital role in creating a more sustainable future.

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Designed to help find high-impact, interdisciplinary solutions through direct dialogue with key actors engaged in climate change mitigation and adaptation.

<span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: x-large; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; background: transparent; color: rgb(51, 51, 51) !important;">News &amp; Articles

Inform about climate issues, explain the most recent scientific discoveries, dialogue with Swiss experts, highlight solutions for a sustainable transformation of our society.

Promoting concrete actions based on interdisciplinary and inter-institutional research as well as on a systemic approach to address the social, scientific, and technological challenges associated with climate change.

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Inform about climate issues, explain the most recent scientific discoveries, dialogue with Swiss experts, highlight solutions for a sustainable transformation of our society.

News and articles

CLIMACT Projects Image by Engin Akyurt from Pixabay 

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Challenges addressed

Collaborators

Funding

Gallery

Leaders

Links and documents

Milestones

Objectives

What are the expected outputs of this project?

Partners

Sustainable Development Goals

Promoting concrete actions based on interdisciplinary and inter-institutional research as well as on a systemic approach to address the social, scientific, and technological challenges associated with climate change.

Projects

Communication specialist

Aïcha

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) met in Interlaken to adopt the summary of seven years of work on global warming, which began in 2015. These texts will be a major support for the COP28, to be held in December in Dubai. Julia Steinberger and Samuel Jaccard, two professors from the Faculty of Geosciences and Environment at UNIL, who are also IPCC experts, provide an insight.

What is the content and the main challenge of this synthesis?

Julia Steinberger: The synthesis is a summary of the main messages of the 6 recent IPCC reports that make up the "6th Assessment Report" or AR6 (see image below).

These are three special reports (1.5 degrees, oceans and cryosphere, land) and three working group reports (physical science, impacts and adaptation, mitigation). Each of these reports has provided important messages, and the synthesis aims to condense them to the essential. 

In summary, global warming is real. It is caused by human activities (especially the burning of fossil fuels (gas, oil, coal) and agriculture-deforestation). The impacts of warming are already visible and dangerous, both for human societies and biodiversity, in all regions of the world (land, oceans, cryosphere), with an intensification of extreme weather events clearly caused by warming. Impacts will continually worsen until warming stabilises. It is possible in some cases to adapt to the impacts of warming, but beyond 2 degrees, even partial adaptation will not be possible.

Reduced energy demand and a plant-dominated diet would allow renewables to supply the entire energy demand, while ensuring a decent standard of living for all.

Current government policies would, however, bring us to around 3 degrees of warming by the end of the century. To comply with the Paris Agreement and stay as close to 1.5 degrees as possible, emissions would have to be halved by 2030 and brought close to zero (net) by 2050. This means that emissions must be cut immediately and massively, because every tenth of a degree counts. Renewable energy is now cheaper per kilowatt-hour than fossil fuels (world average). Reduced energy demand and a plant-dominated diet offer hope that renewable energies can meet the entire energy demand and still provide a decent standard of living for all.

Samuel Jaccard: Regarding the first part of the report (physical basis of climate change), there has been sufficient knowledge, however incomplete, for years to demonstrate that climate disruption is directly associated with human activities and that these activities have negative consequences on ecosystems and biodiversity. Moreover, it is now established that climate change is the main cause of the extreme weather events (floods, droughts, heat waves) that have been much discussed in the media in recent years.

International experts have been ringing the alarm bells for years, without sufficient action being taken. What are your expectations of this publication?

J.S.: There are a lot of scientific results that are published every day, and the UNEP Emissions Gap Report is published every year. The inaction of politicians, companies and citizens (I am thinking in particular of the fact that, in the academic world, we fly to the other side of the world to give a 15-minute speech) is not due to a lack of information from the scientific world, but to misinformation and corruption of our politicians by the fossil fuel lobbies, to put it very clearly.

S.J.: The synthesis report does not present any new conclusions as such, but we can hope that its publication will bring the media/political attention back to the climate issue, while understanding of course that this is not the only subject that is affecting the population at the moment.

A net zero emissions situation must be achieved as soon as possible, globally.

Is there still time to act and how much time do we have?

J.S: It's like asking if it's too late to stop banging our heads. Of course we would have been better off stopping emissions earlier, but every gigatonne, tonne and kilogram of emissions prevented will still benefit our future. Every fraction of a degree of warming counts. The message is not to focus on one year, or to try to give ourselves permission to do nothing more, as this question might suggest. Our obligation as humans is to reduce emissions to zero as quickly as possible. That's all there is to it.

S.J: Of course there is still time to act. That said, we must bear in mind that time is not on our side. We need concrete, sustainable and internationally concerted action, so that we can perhaps implement effective measures to stabilise and then reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A net zero emissions situation must be achieved as soon as possible, globally.

What do you think is the next important step for the IPCC?

J.S: We should not fixate on the IPCC. Its work is important but far too slow. We should focus on action. In Switzerland, we have a climate law to pass, and a lot of work to do on our own emissions (for example, our car fleet, made up of far too heavy SUVs, is one of the most polluting in Europe). The vast majority of our economic institutions, starting with the Swiss National Bank, refuse to disinvest from fossil fuels. We should not wait for the IPCC reports, but act immediately. That is the main message.

S.J.: In principle, the IPCC should be mandated to produce a 7th assessment report within a few years. I hope that the focus will be on adaptation, mitigation, in order to offer tangible solutions to policy makers that will allow for a sustainable reduction in emissions.

This article is a repost from <a href="https://news.unil.ch/display/1679388543234">L'Actu</a>, UNIL.

Academic co-director CLIMACT

Julia

Prof.

Samuel

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) met in Interlaken to adopt the summary of seven years of work on global warming, which began in 2015. These texts will be a major support for the COP28, to be held in December in Dubai. 

"We must not wait for the IPCC reports, but act immediately".

Following a
personal invitation from Mrs Séverine Evéquoz, President of the Grand Conseil vaudois, a delegation of 25 CLIMACT scientists, affiliated to UNIL and EPFL,
gathered in the old town of Lausanne to meet the deputies of the canton. 

On the
agenda: attending part of the parliamentary debates in the plenary room, but
above all exchanging ideas on how to develop more targeted bridges between
science and politics in order to accelerate the climate transition and the preservation
of biodiversity.

Do
politicians only position themselves according to the interests they represent?
What place for scientific evidence?

The
President raised the question how to push political groups to base their
decisions on science rather than on political positions. She quoted Romain
Felli, a researcher at UNIGE, who argues that politicians are not always
motivated to replace parliamentary debates with objective scientific
truths.&nbsp;

In her
view, talking about objective truths can conflict with certain ideologies and
political bias can influence the way scientific evidence is perceived, even if
it is well documented. She concluded by quoting UNIL researcher Céline Mavrot:
"The inclusion of science in the political process is taking place, through
the back door, in an unspectacular manner."

A phone
call, a coffee at the "buvette" and a touch of proactiveness!

In the
course of this useful dialogue, the scientists were able to gain a better
understanding of the different ways in which civil society can approach
parliamentarians, submit proposals to them or participate as experts in
thematic commissions.

However,
the challenge is clear: it is crucial to know when and how to position oneself
among the 331 committee sessions, the 38 plenary sessions of the parliament and
the 1220 items on the agenda.

The answer
is unanimous: personal contact with parliamentarians is essential, as other
interest groups already do an excellent job in this area.

More than ever, it is time for the scientific community to listen even more closely to parliamentary current affairs and to keep abreast of what is being said in the corridors of power, even if it means having a drink or two at the Grand-Conseil's buvette!

Concrete actions in this respect will be developed by CLIMACT in the coming months.

mediaLibraryStrapi

More about about this event:

This meeting at the Grand Conseil took place on March 7, 2023, further to CLIMACT's first "Rencontre participative avec les politiques" on October 6, 2022. Read <a href="https://climact.ch/post/climate-emergency-a-first-meeting-between-politicians-from-the-canton-vaud-and-scientists-from-unil-and-epfl">article</a>.

Discover our <a href="https://climact.ch/fr/events">upcoming events</a>, our CLIMACT <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqKm3bWI-8rQjpiOB_SG4yA">seminar series</a> on Youtube, our <a href="https://climact.ch/fr/blog">articles</a> and follow us on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/ClimactSuisse">@ClimactSuisse</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/ClimactSwiss">@ClimactSwiss</a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/climactsuisse">Linkedin</a>.

Executive director

Nicolas

A meeting between the Grand Conseil Vaudois and a delegation of CLIMACT scientists

"Science can inform and enlighten politics, but it does not drive it"

Project manager

Charmilie

CLIMACT presents its 2023 call for abstracts dedicated to early-career researchers from UNIL and EPFL. Would you like to present your research to a broad audience, promote your work and get useful feedback from peers? Here is an opportunity for you that runs until 27 March 2023!

All the information related to the call for abstracts can be found below and <a href="https://res.cloudinary.com/climact/image/upload/v1677749412/2023_CLIMACT_Scholars_Call_Abstracts_32d09b7d67.pdf?updated_at=2023-03-02T09:30:12.925Z">downloaded&nbsp;as a PDF here</a>.

CLIMACT’s
mission

The <a href="https://climact.ch">Center
for Climate Impact and Action (CLIMACT)</a> is a
joint center between the Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and
the University of Lausanne (UNIL) designed to foster interdisciplinary and interinstitutional
research and implementation activities that address the social, scientific, and
technological challenges associated with climate change and a sustainable
future.

Context

CLIMACT
is opening a competitive call for abstracts aimed at selecting a number of early-career
researchers (ECRs) to present their research within a special edition of the
CLIMACT seminar series “A Climate of Transformation”. Opened not only to the
CLIMACT Scholars (ECRs involved in CLIMACT’s activities) but to all ECRs
affiliated to UNIL and EPFL, this special seminar is the perfect occasion to
feature ECR research. It will highlight their contributions to the field of
climate change mitigation and adaptation, as well as to the transformation to a
sustainable and inclusive society. The researchers selected for this seminar will
benefit from increased visibility and a broad interdisciplinary audience with
which to have constructive discussions during the seminar. With this call for abstracts, CLIMACT is committed to
contributing positively to ECR careers.

The
special edition of the seminar will be held on Monday 22 May 2023.

Requirements

- PhD
students

- Postdocs
(maximum three years since PhD, excluding health and family related time off)

Criteria
of evaluation

Each
application will be evaluated and scored by a committee of senior scientists
and CLIMACT Scholars appointed by CLIMACT. The evaluation will be based on the
following criteria:

How
to apply

All
required documents (filled <a href="https://res.cloudinary.com/climact/raw/upload/v1677592854/2023_CLIMACT_Scholars_Call_Abstracts_Template_ff3711eedb.docx?updated_at=2023-02-28T14:00:55.054Z">application template</a>, portrait photo* and short CV)
must be submitted, in French or in English, via <a href="mailto:calls@climact.ch">calls@climact.ch</a>, before the submission deadline of Monday 27 March 2023 (18:00 CEST). A
notice of reception will be sent to all applicants.

Please
note that applicants must meet all formal requirements. Failing that, their
application will not be considered.

*A
portrait photo is necessary for the communication of the seminar.

Decision

Decisions
will be announced in early May 2023. We kindly ask applicants to remain
available on the date of the seminar until the announcement of the selected
speakers.

Details
regarding the talks (i.e., length, visual support, etc.) will be
provided to the successful applicants. The presentations will take place on
Monday 22 May, during the timeslot of the CLIMACT seminar (12:00-13:15). In the
case of a high number of excellent applications, CLIMACT will organise a second
special seminar dedicated to selected ECRs in the Fall semester of 2023.

Contact

If
you have any questions or need any help preparing your proposal, please contact
us at <a href="mailto:calls@climact.ch">calls@climact.ch</a>.

We, at
CLIMACT, believe in fair treatment of all applicants and our approach is shaped
by a strong respect for each individual. We see diversity and inclusion as
central to our organisation. Our approach applies to our funding instruments,
call for abstracts and all other activities and events.

Special seminar dedicated to early-career researchers

2023 CLIMACT Scholars call for abstracts

The scarcity of empirical research on the impact of climate change on brain health is mainly due to the challenge integrating interdependent environmental, socio-economic and demographic variables into a statistical analysis framework that accounts for the inherent inter-individual variability in brain and behaviour. Given this, the research team aims to establish a comprehensive approach for understanding the neurobiology of the impact of short- and long-term climate change on mental health and cognitive decline. They intend to do so by integrating large-scale climate, geographical space, brain imaging and behavioural data from the population over a period of 20 years. Progress in understanding the impact of climate change on mood and cognitive performance will give a major boost to prevention centred research. Any advance in this field would have not only a major socio-economic impact given the costs of dementia and mental disorders care, but it will also potentially reduce the suffering of patients and their caregivers.

Stéphane

This project is financed by CLIMACT.&nbsp;

Professor and head of neuroimaging lab (LREN)

Bogdan

Georeferencing, environmental, lifetime factors and neuroimaging data acquisition and curation 

 Statistical analysis of environmental, socio-economic and demographic variables together with neurobiological and mood information 

Open publication of the data analysis methodology and publication of research results  

A study on the interdependence between individual’s physical wellbeing and brain health in the context of profound environmental changes.

Climate changes impact on brain, cognition and mood

<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permafrost">Permafrost</a>&nbsp;degradation is a widespread phenomenon impacting mountain ranges all over the globe. Increasing instabilities are posing unprecedented hazard to the livelihoods and properties of remote populations. With increasing stress from climate change and expanding human activities in remote areas, rock falls are continuously growing in magnitude and frequency. Existing methods are proving insufficient in assessing dangers associated with the rapid and profound impact of climate change and permafrost degradation affecting high mountain ranges. Within this project, the researchers will develop and apply a numerical modelling method to&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont_Fort">Mont-Fort</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointes_de_Mourti">Pointes de Mourti</a>&nbsp;in&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valais">Valais</a>&nbsp;in order to assess the degrading permafrost rock wall and their associated hazards.

Christophe

Johan

Demonstration of 2D and 3D mechanic simulation of an idealized real-scale permafrost slope 

Simulations with thermo-mechanical coupling, heterogeneity, and weak surfaces 

Simulation of future scenarios of instabilities in the field test sites 

Publication of the simulation methodology and research results

A Material Point Method to understand permafrost rock walls instabilities due to climate change

MPM-rockwall

The Genèvoltaïque project aims to understand why photovoltaic (PV) solar panels are slow to "bloom" on Geneva's roofs, even though the conditions for an optimal energy transition are present. The project aims to initiate a dialogue between owners and actors of the PV sector and to act as a facilitator in order to develop and promote innovative solutions for owners and thus accelerate the installation of PV in Geneva. Genèvoltaïque aims to be neutral and independent from the PV market and has no economic objectives, the only motivation being the energy transition. 

In 2020, in collaboration with Swiss Energy Planning and with the support of the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE), the WWF analysed the potential of solar roofs already in use in the municipalities. According to this study, the canton of Geneva was exploiting 3.1 % of its potential for rooftop solar power generation in 2019, which is only 0.6 % more than in 2017. At this rate, the canton of Geneva will have fully exploited its potential in this area by the year 2331. 

On 2 December 2020, the State of Geneva made a commitment in its Energy Master Plan 2020-2030 (PDE) to achieve ambitious energy and climate objectives and to resolutely commit the canton of Geneva to the energy transition. The ambition is to achieve 350 MWp of photovoltaic production capacity by 2030. This means doubling the installed capacity by 2023 (120 MWp) and increasing it fivefold by 2030.

Genevoltaique toitures solaires WWF CLIMACT

The project is financed by the Vitale Innovation Fund and the Office Cantonal de l'énergie de Genève (OCEN)

Responsable de la section Genève

Jean-Pascal

Targeting: identification of obstacles to be overcome and innovative models to be developed, mapping and pre-selection of buildings with high PV potential, selection of 5 major property owners

Solutions: testing of innovative models for a selection of buildings, concepts and specifications for each building

Commitment: accompany owners to take action and communicate on the commitments and solutions found

Implementation: setting up and monitoring pilot projects, communicating results

Office Cantonale de l'Energie de Genève

Sofies - DSS+

Terrasses sans frontières

Acceleration of solar photovoltaic to reach 350 GWh by 2030 in Geneva

Genèvoltaïque

Improve citizens’ understanding and participation for advanced democratic decision-making, balancing and enhancing both collective and individual freedoms, in particular towards reaching societal goals of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-018-0021-4">universal human wellbeing within the limits of the biosphere</a>, while respecting human rights, building on the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights">Universal Declaration of Human Rights</a>&nbsp;and the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/vienna-declaration-and-programme-action">1993 Vienna Declaration</a>.

Climate crisis, biodiversity loss, growing inequality - Science shows that nothing short of a radical reduction of humanity’s aggregate energy and material metabolism, combined with a complete restructuring of almost every economic activity, to ensure inclusive and universal satisfaction of human needs, will get us where we need to be. Technology will help, but only once we agree on the goal of society, and redefine our common values.

Summary - Academic Citizens’ Assembly at the "K3 Kongress zu Klimakommunikation 2022"

Full report -Academic Citizens’ Assembly at the "K3 Kongress zu Klimakommunikation 2022"

Mini-ACA K3 topic (How to make sufficiency central to the national climate strategy?) at the Klimakommunikation 2022

ACA 2022: a way for better decision-making on complex and divisive issues?

10 recommendations which could significantly increase the effectiveness of Swiss climate policy

CLIMACT Seminar Series #2, 18.10.2021 “ACA: reinventing direct democracy for today's challenges”

This project is supported by the main partners: BSL, EPFL.&nbsp;Supporting institutions:&nbsp;CLIMACT, E4S, EPFL Sustainability

Sascha

ACA 2021 - small scale (50 people), first prototype, not scalable 

ACA 2022 - small scale (70 people), first fully scalable prototype

Mini-ACA K3 topic (How to make sufficiency central to the national climate strategy?) at the  Klimakommunikation 2022

CLIMACT

Center for Climate Impact and Action

UNIL & EPFL

News & Articles

"We must not wait for the IPCC reports, but act immediately".

Prof. Julia Steinberger

Prof. Samuel Jaccard

"Science can inform and enlighten politics, but it does not drive it"

Dr Nicolas Tetreault

2023 CLIMACT Scholars call for abstracts

Events

Atmospheric Science Day 2023

3rd CLIMACT Seminar Series - Episode #12

Presented by

Johann Recordon

Louise Aubet

Our Projects

Climate changes impact on brain, cognition and mood

MPM-rockwall

Genèvoltaïque

Academic Citizens’ Assembly

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