A Planning and Orientation Master Plan for Transformations (SPOT) was created and accepted by Rennes 2 University in 2025. Its objective is to base university life in city life with more harmony, while reducing the ecological footprint and improving work and study conditions, quality of life, and peaceful coexistence on campus.
Findings
Scientific knowledge has proven the existence of major changes concerning climate evolutions and the transition of the modern era into the Anthropocene, depletion of the planet’s resources, biodiversity loss, as well as the increase of social and economic inequalities and the severe democratic crises our societies are facing. Both the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), regarding climate, and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), regarding biodiversity, as well as the many social studies works about inequalities, have been corroborating and documenting these findings for many years.
In a world in turmoil and faced with these findings, our university must play its part to promote the production of new scientific knowledge in socio-environmental transformation. We must also innovate in our ability to educate future generations on these great challenges and change our university’s dynamics in order to align with current issues.
Objectives of the Planning and Orientation Master Plan for Transformations (SPOT)
The Planning and Orientation Master Plan for Transformations (SPOT) aims to plan, for a period spanning from 2025 to 2030, a strategy:
- to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions,
- to adapt to the consequences of climate change that are already affecting Brittany (cf., for instance, the works of the High Breton Council for Climate), and
- to improve quality of life and work conditions within the university by strengthening university democracy and equality for all.
The SPOT echoes the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG): each project card explicitly refers to them, to show that actions undertaken at university level match global goals. The SPOT also obeys the demand from the Ministry of Higher Education and Research (MESR) for every university to have a Sustainable Development and Societal and Environmental Responsibility (SD&SER) master plan.
As defined by the MESR, the SD&SER master plan is a strategic cross-sectoral document that structures all the university’s activities. It is a long-term project with defined trajectory, steps, and objectives to reduce the carbon footprint, in line with the national goal to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 55% by 2030 (in comparison to 1990), to abide by the Paris Agreement. Its conception, almost as important as its result, must foster mobilization of the community by the mobilization of university actors as well as outside partners. In line with Ministry recommendations, Rennes 2 University chose to manage the project from the highest level of university executives while boosting a participatory process that involves the services, the teachers, and the students.
Greenhouse gas emissions assessment (BGES)
The university’s first BGES was completed in 2012 in order to measure its environmental impact and prioritize actions. The most recent BGES revealed that the university produced a total of 8,600 tonnes of CO2eq in 2023. It was the first complete BGES, and it offers a comprehensive and precise vision of our university’s carbon footprint. This diagnosis is a crucial strategic tool: it allows us to identify the main emitters of a university of social studies such as ours and to rank fields of action by priority.
Analyzing our carbon balance is crucial. It allows us to know precisely what our sources of emissions are and helps us direct the strategic action plan the SPOT contains.
Our goal is to have lowered our GHG emissions by 30% by 2030, that being a drop of 4% per year, in order to reach 6,000 tonnes of CO2eq by 2030.
Axes of our Socio-Environmental Transformation (TSE)
Rennes 2 University chose to organize the SPOT in accordance with the five axes of the Sustainable Development & Societal and Environmental Responsibility Standard, an annual self-evaluation tool used as a framework for the TSE committee to evaluate the university’s actions:
- Axis 1: University governance and TSE
- Axis 2: Educating the university community on TSE issues
- Axis 3: Integrating TSE issues into research
- Axis 4: Mitigating the environmental impact of activities
- Axis 5: Social policy, quality of life at work and on campus
Each axis is divided into thematic project cards, describing the history of actions taken, their current status, and goals for 2025-2030. Each project card indicates whether future measures relate to an adjustment of university dynamics, an improvement to the system, or are transformational measures that are more complex in their implementation.
The master plan covers the period from 2025 to 2030. It is based on measured indicators that allow us to rigorously track the progress the university is making in the various fields. The indicators are critical evaluation and decision support tools: they make the real evolutions visible, and help to adjust actions in order to ensure policies and projects are efficient and consistent.
TSE management and governance
The SPOT and our university’s commitment to the TSE allowed for its organization and management to be formalized: political support through a dedicated Vice-Presidency, and administrative support through the TSE committee and other services’ commitment. This organization allows for a cross-sectoral approach to sustainability issues in connection to other strategic fields of the university (education, research, heritage, etc.).
Involving the university community in the ecological transformation is an essential requirement for success. To that end, TSE governance must use a collaborative and participatory process that involves all university actors. The Orientation and Planning Commission for Socio-Environmental Transformation (COP-TSE) is key in consulting and co-constructing policies in the matter. It has internal interested parties meeting regularly in order to coordinate actions’ implementation and track how transformation policies advance. Furthermore, two networks of point people (services and labs) have been structured. They help to keep things moving and to truly integrate socio-environmental issues into university dynamics. Involving the students is crucial as well, so that they can fully fight alongside the university against climate change and for the preservation of natural resources and biodiversity.
