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Nature Reviews Physics volume 5, pages 551–552 (2023)
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An Author Correction to this article was published on 22 September 2023
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Labos 1point5 is a nationwide action-research project that so far about half of research units in France have used to assess their carbon footprint. Tamara Ben-Ari describes some of the scientific findings from the resulting dataset and what they show about how to change the scientific system.
Labos 1point5 is a pioneer project in France built by research personnel to estimate and reduce the carbon footprint of research activities. It was officially launched in 2019 with an op-ed in the largest newspaper in France and a call to individually register on a website. The project’s premise is straightforward: research needs to operate within climatic and ecological limits, and research personnel are best equipped to decide how to do so. Institutional norms must follow, not precede, the definition of collective mitigation actions and of renewed ethics in science.
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A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42254-023-00658-0
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The results presented here were produced as part of the Labos 1point5 Groupement De Recherche (GDR), which is financially supported by ADEME, CNRS, INRIA and INRAE. I thank G. Lefort and J. Mariette for their help on producing Fig. 1. The work presented here arises from the involvement of several dozens of scientists coordinated by a team of scientists comprising O. Aumont, M. Avet, T. Ben-Ari, G. Blanc, A. Estevez-Torres, M.-A. Foujols, J. Mariette, C. Serrano and M. Ridel. I thank O. Berné, A. Hardy, B. Fagard, N. Flagey and P. Charbonnier for their feedback on the present text. Labos 1point5 is currently expanding outside of France under the supervision of J. Mariette and M. Coriat: in Europe (notably with the help of B. Fagard and W. Cramer), in Canada (with the help of C. Verchère) and the USA (with the help of N. Flagey and I. Magrin-Chagnolleau); contact can be made via contact@labos1point5.org.
INRAE, UMR Innovation et transformation des systèmes agricoles et alimentaires, Montpellier, France
Tamara Ben-Ari
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Correspondence to Tamara Ben-Ari.
The author declares no competing interests.
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Ben-Ari, T. How research can steer academia towards a low-carbon future. Nat Rev Phys 5, 551–552 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42254-023-00633-9
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