Raising awareness of the challenges of the socio-ecological transition

During Welcome Week, Centrale Nantes has chosen to raise student awareness of certain aspects of sustainable development::

• Climate issues: all Bachelor's, Engineering and Master's students will take part in a Climate Fresk workshop to raise awareness of environmental issues.
• Societal issues will be addressed through workshops and conferences on the prevention of sexist and sexual violence.

The Climate Fresk (Fresque du Climat in French) is a collaborative workshop based solely on the work of the IPCC. It illustrates the process of climate change by linking causes and effects. There's no need to become a climate scientist to understand climate change — the Climate Fresk is all you need! Created by Cédric Ringenbach, a former student of the school, the workshop is growing rapidly in popularity in France and around the world. Over 300,000 people have already participated in the workshop, with this figure set to reach 2 million in the near future.

► Learn more about the Climate Fresk here

Working in groups of eight, this workshop gives you the opportunity to explore a key subject that will raise your awareness of the issues involved when you begin your technical studies.
In the final part of the workshop, students will be asked to suggest concrete actions and solutions to address the issue.

The workshop will be run in French and English by trained facilitators (staff, teachers, and external speakers).

To date, over 400 members of staff and 2,500 students have participated in the workshop at Centrale Nantes.

Centrale Nantes has set itself the goal of raising awareness among all its students of the three aspects of sustainable development: environmental, social and societal. The school is a signatory of the Grenoble Accord (COP2Etudiante), the Cpas1option charter, the 'Charte de l'autre Cercle' and the 'StOpE Initiative' — a manifesto for eco-responsible industry.

Beyond the climate and societal issues explored during Welcome Week, other concepts, such as access to resources, biodiversity, carbon footprinting, life cycle analysis and raising awareness of secularism, ordinary sexism and LGBTQIA+phobia, will be addressed throughout the study programmes. Students can engage with these issues through the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, by becoming a sustainable development representatives, via student associations, or by setting up projects with the support of the CVEC fund or through civic engagement.