[en] Regional jurisdictions - geographical areas and political units such as cities, provinces, and territories - are extraordinarily diverse, with distinct economic conditions, populations, infrastructure, geographies, institutions, and governance systems. In these districts, urban areas have an important role and status, as cities generate more than 80% of global GDP and house the majority of the world's population (54% today and projected to grow to 66% by 2050). There currently are 1,000 urban agglomerations of 500,000 or more inhabitants. Home to 70% of the developing world's poor, rural areas, and the provinces and territories encompassing these regions, will also play a crucial role in reducing humanity's vulnerability to climate change impacts. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted in September 2015 by the UN General Assembly, confirm and legitimise the will of regional jurisdictions, human settlements, and cities to become more inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. SDG 11 highlights the need for participatory, integrated, and sustainable urban planning to build inclusive human settlements that are innovative, resource efficient, low carbon, and resilient to climate change impacts. Recognizing multiple levels of governance, the goal explicitly aims to foster positive economic, social, and environmental outcomes through vertically integrated jurisdictions. (authors)

[en] Adapting to climate change and global change have become vital goals for all societies. These same societies are faced at times with unexpected meteorological phenomena that are becoming increasingly frequent and intense, including flooding, droughts and tornadoes. They are also having to wrestle with rising temperatures and the follow-on effects on the balance of ecosystems, the evolution of species, and animal and plant life, not to mention the development of human populations, their living conditions and social organisation. Although the capacity of ecosystems to adapt or convert has been demonstrated by studies on climate variations over time, the growing pace of some phenomena may well lead to a point of no return. In fact, with the global rise in temperature - caused by human activities in particular - we might already have reached this stage. This book, which consists of some fifty articles by scientists and experts, is unique. It makes us think about what lies behind the notions of adaptation and mal-adaptation, drawing on several disciplines, sectors and regional fields. It also highlights the checks and limitations of adaptation, as well as reflecting and suggesting ways of acting and adjusting. The contributions made to this work serve to reinforce the implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement (2015), especially the COP 23 climate conference (23. Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Bonn, 2017), where adaptation, its objectives and financing, are some of the priorities. This book is the result of a partnership between the CNRS and Comite 21. It was jointly edited by Agathe Euzen (deputy scientific director at the CNRS Ecology and Environment Institute); Bettina Laville (state councillor and Comite 21 chair); and Stephanie Thiebault (director of the CNRS Ecology and Environment Institute)

[en] This study aims to capitalize on and promote initiatives from the field, enabling the chain of actors involved in renewable energies (institutions, industry, finance, NGOs and citizens) to seize them. It provides food for thought in terms of concrete ways of reconciling the two sectoral policies of the energy transition on the one hand, and the preservation of biodiversity on the other, by comparing the levers for integrating biodiversity into renewable energies at the international level. Three categories of levers were studied in particular: economic, technical and regulatory and socio-cognitive. After an initial review of scientific knowledge and grey literature on the subject, this study presents concrete examples of levers by category (stakeholders involved, implementation methods, governance, etc.), and avenues for action in the event of a possible deployment in France. This review focuses on the onshore wind energy sector, as well as on the ground and floating solar energy sectors

[en] This paper is a forecast that paints four coherent and contrasting paths to achieve carbon neutrality in France in 2050. They aim to articulate the technical and economic dimensions with reflections on the transformations of society that they imply or that they arouse. The following sectors are detailed: those relating to consumption (land use and planning, construction, mobility and food); those which constitute the productive system (agriculture, forest exploitation and industry), those which form the energy supply (gas, cold and heat, biomass, liquid fuels and hydrogen); those that constitute resources (biomass and waste) and carbon sinks. These sectors are also analyzed with regard to their impacts on water, soil, materials and air quality. This book is the result of more than two years of work carried out by the French organization ADEME, in interaction with external partners, in order to inform the decisions to be taken in the years to come. Because the goal is not to propose a political project nor 'the' right trajectory, but to bring together elements of technical, economic and environmental knowledge in order to make people aware of the implications of the societal and technical choices that will lead to the chosen paths