[en] Impact studies form an essential part of environmental protection. The impact study discipline has enabled the EDF to have a better understanding of the effects of nuclear power stations on the environment and to remedy them at the project design stage

[en] A source of welfare, health, social and economic development, energy is essential to human life. Meeting world energy demand, restraining energy consumption in developed countries, and reducing global emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) raises fundamental challenges for the future of our planet. Because the problem is so pervasive and because of the approaching 21. UN Climate Change Conference, COP 21, the four National Academies of science and technology in France and Germany decided to enhance their mutual cooperation and to organize two workshops on the 'energy transition'. This initiative is intended to provide a framework for sharing knowledge, anticipating future challenges, identifying areas for closer cooperation between our countries and generating advice for decision makers and society in general. The workshops defined priority areas for further collaboration. These include energy efficiency, grid infrastructure and smart grids, mobility, nuclear energy (fission): safety and waste management, fusion, renewable energies, energy storage as well as social and economic aspects of the energy transition. In view of the complex challenges, compounded by the political debate, and the different conditions and starting points for the energy transition in the two countries, the four academies also identified the following common lines of action. 1. Creating a sustainable energy system. The overriding aim of energy and climate policy in this century will be to create a sustainable system of energy supply, i.e. one in which GHG emissions are substantially reduced worldwide, while at the same time ensuring security of supply. This will require a long-term perspective, as well as a suitable balance between environmental goals, social expectations, and economic objectives. 2. Promoting collaborative policies. The academies welcome the stated intention of both governments to support effective energy and climate policies on a European level through the medium of a European Energy Union. This will make energy more sustainable, affordable and secure, and produce policies that are compatible with those implemented in other parts of the world. In this spirit, the academies particularly encourage the effort of both governments to reach an ambitious international climate agreement during COP 21 in Paris at the end of 2015. 3. Asserting the central role of science, technology and industrial development. Achieving an efficient energy transition resulting in a substantial net reduction of GHG emissions raises complex issues that are usually underestimated. They will require solutions that are fundamentally based on science, technology and industrial know-how. The academies thus support strong funding programmes for energy R and D, in particular for long-term basic research in crosscutting topics. Such programmes should focus on novel approaches and, if designed properly, would also help to improve the international competitiveness of European industry. 4. Raising public awareness of energy policies. To promote a systemic and shared understanding of the energy system, it is important to understand public expectations and enhance public awareness of energy issues and constraints. Ultimately, a European energy vision should evolve on which the European citizens can agree. 5. Enhancing French-German scientific, technological and industrial cooperation. Both France and Germany need innovation and breakthroughs in the energy field. They are fortunately endowed with a high degree of competence in the appropriate areas, but would both benefit from more intense scientific and industrial cooperation. Finally, the academies suggest the establishment of an academy led French-German consultative research committee which could discuss both research issues of mutual interest and priorities in connection with the energy transition. It could also provide a means for assessing developments in the two countries

[en] This publication proposes an assessment of technological potential which is either mobilised, or to be developed to face climate change and to propose mitigation and attenuation solutions. Situations, opportunities and recommendations are stated for different important sectors: agriculture, forests and soils (use of forests, emission mitigation in agriculture, restoration of degraded soils and additional storage of organic carbon), water, ocean, cost, lowlands and climate evolution (continental water, modification of water resources, impacts on the coastline and on lowlands, adaptation and mitigation technologies), building, town planning, mobility and transport (trends in the economic and social field, in the transport and mobility field, in the building sector, for the city and its close and far rural environment), energy (structure of energy flows of human activities, energy demand for numerous usages, primary energies and resources, electricity as an essential energy vector, resilience of energy installations), energy saving by the French industry and bio-economy, information and communication technologies, climate geo-engineering (technologies of management of solar radiation, technologies of extraction of carbon from the atmosphere), job, abilities and training (the practice of life cycle analysis in the French society, commitment of the education community, priority for continuous education). Recommendations are stated for each of these sectors. A brief text voted by the Academy is also proposed

[en] In this report the Academy discusses potential technologies which would enable mitigation of and adaptation to climate change, and how these technologies will have this desired impact. It addresses this issue for different sectors: agriculture, forest and soils (mitigation by forests and adaptation of forests, mitigation of emissions in agriculture, restoration of degraded soils and additional storage of organic carbon by soils), water, ocean, coast, lowlands and their relationship with climate evolution (modification of water resources, impacts on lowlands, mitigation and adaptation technologies), built environment, town planning, mobility and transport (discussion of current trends, and of ways to overcome difficulties), energy (structure of energy flows, energy demand, resources and primary energies, electricity as the main energy vector, resilience of energy facilities), energy savings by the French industry and bio-economy, technologies of information and communication (relationship with energy consumption, factor of saving in industry), climate geo-engineering (technologies of solar radiation management, technologies of extraction of carbon from the atmosphere), employment, skills and training. A set of recommendations is proposed for different sectors in compliance with COP21 decisions

[en] After the opening and closing speeches of the Minister of Ecology and the intervention of the Prime Minister, a first assessment of the Climate Plan is proposed. This assessment addresses issues related to awareness raising and to adaptation, to sustainable transports, to building and eco-habitat, to industry, to energy, to wastes, to sustainable agriculture and forests, to sustainable air-conditioning, to territorial Climate Plans and to the exemplary State, and to research, international action and prospective after 2010. Then, after a speech of the Minister of Ecology during a Mayor Congress on the Territorial Climate Plan, and a press communique on the Climate Rendezvous, contributions to this rendezvous are provided. For the first day, these contributions propose an assessment of Climate Plan implementation, presentations about the status of scientific knowledge, about climate evolution in France, about stakes and international negotiations to come, about a first assessment of the application of the Climate Plan in terms of emissions and projections. Workshops addressed road transports (clean vehicles and alternatives to road), renewable energy and energy management, territorial climate plans, buildings and energy efficiency (awareness raising, regulation, incentive), actors to develop a climate culture. The second day addressed strategy, stakes and actions for a climate policy. After an opening speech, round tables addressed orientations and actual solutions through the following topics: the factor 4 and new energy technologies, carbon finance and project mechanisms, air transport as a sector for after 2012. Another set of round tables addressed evolutions of our society: adaptation actions in front of consequences of climate change, ways to articulate climate policy and job dynamics