Environmental and social agreement

Inalco has launched a Convention whose aim is to help produce a fifteen-month (October 2023 - December 2024) action plan for the establishment in terms of sustainable development and social responsibility.
Illustration 3 professionnels devant la terre avec une plante
Organic flat csr concept illustrated © Freepik‎

The Convention is made up of students in initial and continuing training, tenured and non-tenured teacher-researchers, administrative staff, former students and Inalco partners. Convention members are volunteers chosen by lottery on a voluntary basis. They sign a letter of commitment detailing their rights and responsibilities as Convention members, and committing them to participating in the Convention until the "Sustainable Development and Social Responsibility" (SD&RS) master plan is drawn up. Finally, they are divided into five working groups:

  1. Strategy and governance;
  2. Education and training;
  3. Research and innovation;
  4. Ecological impact of activities;
  5. Social policy and quality of life at work.

The Convention is run by a monitoring committee and a secretariat. The Monitoring Committee is made up of :

  • Julien Vercueil (Inalco's vice-president delegate for valorization and environmental responsibility),

  • Delphine Allès (Inalco's vice-president),

  • Valérie Liger-Belair (director general of services (DGS) at Inalco),

  • Vincent Chagniot (technical director of Inalco's Pôle des langues et civilisations).

The Convention's secretariat is provided by Dmitry Volkov (Inalco's Alternance unit).

The master plan is drawn up by the Convention members on the basis of readings, reflections, interviews, debates and collective writing. The conventioneers research and formulate action proposals in their respective working groups. They then meet once a month in plenary sessions to discuss their findings and vote on proposals. To ensure that the conventioneers are previously trained in DD&RS issues, they should have completed an online training course "B.A.-BA du climat et de la biodiversité" offered by the Cned.

Some proposals for action already adopted by the convention (May 2024)

Accordéons
Strategy and governance" working group
Education and training" working group
Research and Innovation" working group
Ecological impact of activities" working group
Social policy and quality of life at work" working group

Organigramme Convention environnementale et sociétale - 31 mai 2024 (208.72 KB, .pdf)

Timeline Convention environnementale et sociétale - 2023/2024 (216.45 KB, .pdf)

Affiche Convention environnementale et sociétale 2024 (3.32 MB, .pdf)

Learn about Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility (SD&CSR)

The best first step to becoming familiar with SD&CSR issues is to complete the "B.A.-BA of climate and biodiversity" training course offered by the Cned. This 7-hour training course provides basic knowledge of climate change and biodiversity.

Scientific resources are also available, such as the sixth report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) or the assessments of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).

As part of the French government's SD&RS commitments, several ministries have adopted their own action plans for the ecological transition and developed documents to raise awareness of best practices. For example, the Ministry of Higher Education and Research has developed the Plan climat-biodiversité et transition écologique de l'Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche and the Schéma Directeur "Développement Durable - Responsabilité Sociétale et Environnementale" (SD DD&RSE) - documents designed to support educational establishments in their ecological transition initiatives. The Ministry has also published a report on the state of awareness among French higher education students of the challenges of ecological transition. Finally, the government has produced best practice guides such as the one on responsible digital use for organizations.

Inalco is not the only higher education establishment to have committed to the ecological transition. Throughout France, establishments such as the Université de Montpellier, the Université de Bordeaux and the Université Grenoble Alpes are adopting and applying their DD&RSE master plans on a daily basis.

You too can become agents of change. Share your ideas with us!