Olivier Plantevin is specialised in condensed matter physics and spectroscopy applied to materials science. He has a particular interest in new semiconductors such as hybrid perovskites, which are undergoing rapid development in the field of photovoltaics. He is the Associate Head of the Physics department at Université Paris-Saclay and currently coordinates a Masters-level course on ‘Energy Conversion’. He is interested in how democratic mechanisms may allow us to overcome the environmental crisis: degrowth, self-management, and social environmentalism are all prospective path for human progress in our societies. “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” – Albert Einstein

Bruno Parmentier worked in NGOs, cooperatives, the press, and the editing world before becoming the director of the Ecole Supérieure d’Agriculture in Angers. He has published five books on agriculture, food, hunger, global warming, and ageing. According to him, so-called modern agriculture “based entirely on chemicals and oil” is showing strain: yields are stagnating, biodiversity is crumbling, soil fertility is decreasing, groundwater reserves are shrinking, the social acceptability of pesticides is all but gone, and global warming is having a significant impact on all agricultural systems. He believes that the world’s oldest profession is on the brink of a major new revolution – transitioning from chemically intensive to ecologically intensive practices to produce “more and better with less” all while limiting climate change.

Céline Guivarch is an economist working within the CIRED (Centre international de recherche sur l’environnement et le développement) and Research Director at the Ecole des Ponts ParisTech. She is one of the authors of the 6th IPCC assessment report and is a member of the High Council on Climate. Her research deals with climate change, a topic that she investigates through the lens of economics and through other multidisciplinary approaches – using climate and carbon cycle models, applied mathematics or environmental science, for example. Her research relies on numerical models to explore the interactions between economic trends, the evolution of technical systems and lifestyles, and climate change.

Anny Cazenave is specialised in spatial geodesy and oceanography. A researcher within the Laboratory of studies on Spatial Geophysics and Oceanography in Toulouse, she was elected to the Sciences of the Universe division of the French Academy of Sciences in 2004. She was one of the main authors of the “Sea level rise” chapter in the 4th and 5th IPCC assessment reports. She was also a member of the World Climate Research Programme’s Joint Scientific Committee until 2018. She is currently a council member for the international ‘Future Earth’ programme, which seeks to study global changes and their impact on society.

Thibaud Griessinger is an independent researcher who focusses on the human and social aspects of the energy transition. He founded ACTE Lab, a collective of researchers in the field of cognitive science who wish to use their knowledge to facilitate the transformation of lifestyles, organisations, and territories. He is working to integrate behavioural science (both social and cognitive) into ecological transition strategies and contributes to the development of action plans that are better adapted to targeted populations and areas. He is also conducting action-oriented research projects with the aim of better understanding the transformation dynamics that will allow us to mitigate, respond and adapt to challenges linked to the climate and the environment.

Philippe Drobinski’s research deals with regional climate trends and variability in Europe and the Mediterranean, with a particular focus on water and energy resources. He has coordinated many national and international programmes and is the founding director of the interdisciplinary Energy4Climate Center, which aims to address the systemic complexity of the energy transition. He has authored over 160 book chapters and articles published in international peer-reviewed journals and coordinated the Energy chapter of the MedECC’s first assessment report on climate and environmental change in the Mediterranean region. He teaches Masters-level classes on climate change and renewable energy at the Ecole Polytechnique and runs an executive training programme on the environment and energy management.

Christian de Perthuis is a professor of Economics at Paris Dauphine University (PSL). He led the ‘Mission Climat’ of the French Deposits and Consignments Fund, before founding the Climate Economics Chair at Paris Dauphine University. His work has led him to study international climate negotiations and the various economic mechanisms states and organisations have at their disposal to limit climate change. As a result, he presided the Committee for Green Taxation, the proposals of which led to a climate and energy contribution being introduced in the French tax system.

Philippe Bihouix has been active in various industrial fields, such as energy, chemistry, or telecommunications and developed an early interest in questions of resource use and the environmental impact of human activity. He has published several works on non-renewable resources and resulting technological issues, in particular ‘The Age of Low Tech – Towards a Technologically Sustainable Civilization’ (Seuil, 2014), ‘Happiness Was for Tomorrow’ and ‘The Musings of a Solitary Engineer’ (Seuil, 2019). Fascinated by resilience at different levels, especially that of local councils and urban centres, he wishes to contribute, through his professional and personal practices, to an environmentally and socially just transformation of our society.