Trio of leading French universities launch SDSN France
Led jointly by Kedge Business School, the University of Cergy-Pontoise (UCP), and Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL), the SDSN France network launched on November 13 in Paris. PSL University’s new vice-president of social and environmental responsibility, Anne Devulder said that, “becoming one of the SDSN’s network heads is a great pride for PSL (…) Now our objective is to make the network live, to provoke exchanges, and to produce new ideas on the SDGs for France.”
The network’s mission is to encourage the emergence of solutions in order to facilitate economic, energy and social transitions in France, using the SDG framework. SDSN France has set the following five objectives:
- Develop basic research and education around the SDGs;
- Highlight these educational and research initiatives with public authorities, international organizations, companies and NGOs;
- Foster cooperation between different stakeholders;
- Engage sponsors in financing projects from French universities;
- Disseminate and improve public knowledge and awareness of sustainable development issues .
The SDSN France network was officially launched at PSL University during a half-day conference. Over 150 professors and researchers, institutional actors, and members of civil society (French Development Agency, Comité 21, French Network of Students for Sustainable Development, CGE, CPU, Novethic, Global Compact France, etc.) gathered around five parallel thematic workshops on the energy transition, education for sustainable development, sustainable finance, sustainable cities, and sustainable value chains and corporate social responsibility. In the evening, Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, the Director of SDSN, gave a keynote entitled “Accelerating Change to Achieve the SDGs in France.”
Read more about the launch here (in French).
