CSR in 2020

Centrale Nantes renewed its commitment to sustainable development with the drawing up of a 2021-2025 action plan structured according to 5 priorities:
  • Strategy & governance
  • Teaching & training
  • Research
  • Environment management
  • Social policy & local communities

This action plan is the result of a collaborative process initiated with the network of Sustainable Development Representatives - including staff, students and graduates - and led by the Sustainable Development Department. It is intended to be put to the vote of the Board of Governors.

Centrale Nantes is committed to involving its students, staff and stakeholders in the definition and implementation of actions. The contribution of these projects to the challenges of the 21st century will be promoted through the 17 Sustainable Development Goals defined by the UN in 2015 and adopted by France in its "Agenda 2030".

Download the 2020 sustainable development report (in French)
 
Strategy & governance

Creation of a Sustainable Development Department

With a Director for Sustainable Development in the Centrale Nantes management team, to coordinate strategy, support project leaders, and contribute to the promotion of the actions undertaken by the school, its teachers, researchers, staff, students and the ecosystem.
 

A network of sustainable development representatives

Since October 2020, staff, students and graduates have been able to sign up to become sustainable development representatives. This role is put in writing by the line manager.
There are currently 31 representatives whose role is to:
 

  • To be informed about the challenges and legal obligations of sustainable development
  • Participate in ideation workshops to generate ideas for the establishment's action plan,
  • Contribute to actions,
  • Share information and feedback on ideas and suggestions, raise awareness among colleagues and participate in sustainable development actions

However, the working groups can be made up of representatives and other stakeholders or volunteers involved in a project on an ad hoc or long-term basis.
 

DD&RS National Framework

In 2020, Centrale Nantes carried out a self-assessment according to the national DD&RS reference framework and submitted it to the CGE's Sustainable Development Commission, via the PERSEES platform (Platform for the Evaluation of the Social Responsibility of Higher Education Institutions).

International rankings

Centrale Nantes was included in the new Times Higher Education University Impact Rankings in 2019 and was ranked again in 2020. The rankings measure institution performance against the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations. The results of the rankings are disseminated internally and posted on the school's website. Grand Baromètre de la Transition écologique: Centrale Nantes responded to the national survey proposed by the student collective and initiative "Pour un réveil écologique" (Manifesto for an ecological awakening). The objective is "to accelerate transformations by encouraging institutions to ask themselves the right questions and to report more regularly on their approaches to ecological transition.

Teaching & training

New student intake

September 2020: Awareness-raising lecture on sustainable development.

New course - Energy, Environment and Climate Challenges

A new course opened at the start of the 2020 academic year for first-year engineering programme students.
Climate collage workshop for first-year engineering programme students.

Net-Zero emissions project-based specialisation

A new group of students updated Centrale Nantes' carbon footprint and proposed visualization and management tools to highlight individual contributions and collective approaches.

Second intake of students on the Mastère Spécialisé ® Acteur pour la Transition Energétique programme

Ecological Transition Mornings

Research

Materials

EDYCEM - Centrale Nantes Chair on sustainable concrete (since 2019) and ANR project CO2NCRETE - CO2 Uptake by Accelerated Carbonation of Recycled Concrete Aggregates: CO2 capture by deconstruction waste.

Networks

POSYTYF project (POwering SYstem flexibiliTY in the Future through RES), a European project coordinated by Centrale Nantes: "Routable renewable energy sources for a modern electricity grid model".

New web pages

Energy transition: Energy Research projects to explain and promote the contribution of research projects to the energy transition. Six areas (energy, mobility, materials, cities, industry, CSR) have been identified and promoted according to the same pattern: Global issues / Why Centrale Nantes / Solutions / Focus on a project.

Environment management

Updating energy performance information

Annual energy performance is put on display every year - via a student contract - on all the doors of campus buildings. The aim is to provide transparency to users and also to raise awareness of the need to keep doors closed in winter and summer and to reduce heat loss. It establishes in particular the annual heating consumption per m² to allow comparison between new (T), renovated (E) or non-renovated buildings (B, L, M, etc.). This information can be consulted here.
 

Energy production

Centrale Nantes produces energy through its FLOATGEN research facility in Le Croisic. The floating wind turbine produced 6.8GWh in 2020.


Recovery of heat generated by the cooling of the supercomputer

The thermal engineering firm Akajoule has been working since the end of 2020 on various scenarios for recovering the heat dissipated by the supercomputer, in particular by using it to heat the site. This project is eligible for the ADEME's Heat Fund. The firm carried out measurements in building D.


Inventory of hazardous and non-hazardous waste

Study carried out by an external firm in 2020 with regard to the regulations by sector


AMAP run by students (BDS)

Delivery service with local partners: vegetables, fruit, eggs, bread.


Green spaces

Consultation on the management of green spaces, led by the Facilities Department with the support of an external service provider. This consultation led to the production of a management plan for the campus' green spaces.

Social policy & local communities

Ecological Transition Mornings

In 2020, the school organised new editions of this conference series with:

  • Dominique Bourg - “Climate, Life and Resources: what is the outlook for the planet?”
  • Simon Ducasse -  "Distributed Energy: the cornerstone of Energy Transition"
  • Valérie Cabanes - "Rights of Nature: we need to recognise ecocide as a crime"
  • Yannick Roudaut - "An impossible gamble in the face of collapse"
  • Jean-Marc Jancovici - "Man and energy, the quarrelsome lovers"


CSR Awards

A renewed commitment to the new edition of the Pays de la Loire CSR Trophies: more than 30 committed companies audited by students.


Participation in Nantes Métropole's CSR Committee


Student Fairs

Centrale Nantes students contribute to the organisation of major events for companies in the region. The Forum Atlantique is the largest student-business fair in the West of France

Forum Horizons

The Horizons Forum is an event organised by students from various engineering schools in Nantes to bring together students, companies and organisations involved in ecological and solidarity-based transition. In addition, debate workshops and conferences on the theme of the transition help to raise students' awareness of the issue.


Research collaboration with Nantes-based company Toovalu (2020-2022)

Collaboration on the "Definition of operational low-carbon trajectories for companies", in line with national and global climate issues and the Sustainable Development Goals.


Civic engagement

Students on the engineering programme are required to undertake 100 hours of voluntary work for associations of their choice in the fields of: culture and leisure, international development and humanitarian action, education for all, the environment, emergency response in the event of a crisis, remembrance and citizenship, health, solidarity or sport. Many students contribute to local associations or take part in activities in schools in the Nantes area.
 

Training for people who are out of touch with the job market to reduce inequalities

  • The Web In pulse course trains young people aged 18 to 30 with no formal qualifications beyond high school to become Web developers.
  • The Fondation Agissons Pour l'Emploi (FAPE) aims to act against exclusion through a scheme that brings together companies and candidates who are looking to define a career path.
Published on September 30, 2021 Updated on October 14, 2021