Projects

Title (provisional): Mobilizing ecological accounting tools to define development trajectories compatible with biodiversity preservation-Application to ecosystem restoration actions conducted in Senegal

Phd Student : Morgane GONON
Director: Harold Levrel, Antoine Godin, Rémi Prudhomme, Adrien Comte
Laboratory: CIRED
Partner: Institut sénégalais de recherche agricole and Agence française de développement (AFD)
Start: November 2022

Thesis project summary:
This PhD work integrates fieldwork, spatial analysis and economic modelling to examine the most appropriate financing models for achieving land and ecosystem restoration goals, with a case study in Senegal.
Senegal implements and is at the center of restoration programs run by national, international, public and private players, focusing mainly on two types of action: the reforestation of mangroves in coastal areas and the reforestation of arid lands as part of the Great Green Wall project. This case study examines, in various bioclimatic regions, the interaction between ecological objectives, development programs and policies, and the growing diversity of stakeholders involved. This thesis focuses in particular on the capacity of the carbon market to contribute to the ecological restoration effort and on the transformations in governance structure linked to the adoption of this financing model.

Title (provisional): Development of an ’ecosystem-centric management accounting’ for the strategic and collective management of the environmental commons: a research-intervention with the Tour du Valat

PhD Student : Caroline VIGO COGUETO
Director: Corinne VERCHER-CHAPTAL and Clément FEGER
Laboratory: CEPN (Centre d’Économie de l’Université Paris-Nord)
Partner: Tour du Valat
Start: April 2022

Summary of the thesis project
The thesis aims to contribute to the development of management science frameworks to address the challenges of ecosystem management through the ecosystem-centric accounting approach. The objective is to further develop this new approach both theoretically and experimentally, using the "ecosystem-centred accounting framework" as a basis for designing accounts adapted to different contexts of action for the environment.
The thesis is carried out using research-intervention methods in collaboration with the Tour du Valat, a private research and conservation institute that works for the conservation of Mediterranean wetlands.

Title (provisional): Re-embedding the financial system in the biosphere using the CARE conceptual framework
Doctorate: Soline RALITE
Director : Thomas LAGOARDE-SEGOT (Kedge Business School) (Professor of Economics and International Finance) [director] & Alexandre RAMBAUD [co-director].
Laboratory : MOST (Dauphine Recherches en Management - Université Paris-Dauphine)
Start: November 2021

Title (provisional): Development of the CARE (Comprehensive Accounting in Respect of Ecology) and Ecosystem-Centred Accounting Framework: The Case of Farms

PhD student: Clément BOYER
Directors: Frédérique DEJEAN (Université Paris-Dauphine) (Professor in Management Sciences) [director] & Alexandre RAMBAUD [co-director].
Thesis integrated in the research programme "Counting differently, counting what really counts", directed by the Ecological Accounting Chair and included in the "Sésame" project, winner of the "Territoires d’innovation" award
Laboratory: MOST (Dauphine Recherches en Management - Université Paris-Dauphine)
Start: November 2020

Issue
Development of CARE multi-capital accounting, in connection with ecosystem accounting centred on the Envol farm - and other farms in the SESAME perimeter - on the territory of the Cœur d’Essonne conurbation community and its partners.

Summary of the thesis project
The thesis is part of a research project entitled "Compter autrement, compter ce qui compte vraiment", carried out by the Ecological Accounting Chair (AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Dauphine and Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne) and whose scientific director is Alexandre Rambaud.

The doctoral student’s objective over 3 years is to :
 Deepen the question of natural capital, in the case of the Sesame project and thus
to develop the "natural capital" component of CARE’s experimentation;
 To identify the natural capitals at stake in the enterprises concerned, to define them
methodically, assess their maintenance costs and the types of uses of this capital;
 To analyse the obstacles of this model on the question of "natural capital" when it is put into practice and to deduce methodological recommendations. Participate in the theoretical and practical development of the CARE model on the issue of "capital".
natural" ;
 For this reason:
o Develop the basis for an analytical accounting system linked to CARE, capable of
monitor the evolution of business models (to do so, it will be possible to
study and deepen the links between CARE and IDEA) ;
o Include the study of natural capitals in the development of an
ecosystem-centric management accounting

(Provisional) Title: Study and articulation of ecological debts and claims from the organization to the national scale

PhD student: Clément SURUN
Directors: Harold LEVREL [director] & Clément FEGER [co-director].
Laboratory: CIRED (International Research Centre for Environment and Development)
Start date: April 2019

Issue

Research and development of a coherent articulation between the micro (organisations) and macro (national) levels of ecological accounting under the prism of ecological debts and claims.

Summary of the thesis project

The purpose of this thesis is to work on the articulation between the great diversity of forms taken by external reporting of companies and the definition of conventions and nomenclatures structuring the central and satellite accounts of national accounting, but also to test the information of ecological accounts at these two scales. Indeed, how can the impacts measured and reported by each organisation or sector of activity at an individual level be assessed at an aggregate level? In relation to what limits and standards are set or negotiated at the national level? In order to carry out this work, one or more case studies will be mobilised, the objective of which will be to test the feasibility of this articulation and the necessary adaptations.

Title: (Co)Steering and animation of the Natural Capital Lab, in partnership with WWF France

Chair Ecological Accounting :
Project leader for the Chair: Aurélien OOSTERLINCK
Steering Committee: Clément FEGER, Aurélien OOSTERLINCK, Alexandre RAMBAUD

WWF France :
Project manager for WWF: Alizée MASSON
Steering Committee: Anne-Charline GAL, Ciprian IONESCU, Alizée MASSON, Aurélie PONTAL, Juliette PUGLIESI

Launch: 2021

Lab members :

Active members:
Carrefour
GRDF
Groupe Bel
Groupe Rocher
Michelin
LVMH

Observer members:
CDC Biodiversity
Compta durable
AgroParisTech Foundation
La Dame à la Licorne
Ministry of Ecological Transition
University of Paris Dauphine
University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne
Vertigo Lab

> More information

Title: Development and experimentation of the ESGAP tool in New Caledonia, in collaboration with the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), WWF France, University College of London (UCL).

Ecological Accounting Chair:
Harold LEVREL > Project leader
Adrien COMTE > Main researcher
Clément SURUN > Technical Support

Period : 2020-2021

Project summary

Adrien Comte and Clément Surun are carrying out a study whose objective is to build a dashboard of sustainability indicators for New Caledonia, the ESGAP (Environmental Sustainability Gap). This study is carried out in the framework of a research partnership with AFD and WWF, for a period of 6 months. ESGAP, initially developed by Paul Ekins’ team (UCL), is similar to a simplified system of national accounts because it aims at a certain exhaustiveness and there is coherence between the environmental indicators chosen: sustainability of resource use, level of pollution that the environment can eliminate without damage, state of biodiversity, impacts on human health. Moreover, the explicit reference to scientific objectives (global limits, critical natural capital thresholds) and the way in which the final indicator is aggregated classify the GPAHS as highly sustainable. Fieldwork consists of collecting the necessary data, adapting the tool to local needs and discussing its sustainability over time. Thus, several core indicators will be created. The method and the pilot built will be transmitted to local actors for sustainability.

Title: Defining a national accounting framework for strong sustainability adapted to the fight against the artificialisation of natural areas

Intern : Morgane GONON
Supervisor : Clément SURUN, Harold LEVREL
Period : March - October 2021

Title: The CARE (Comprehensive Accounting in Respect of Ecology) conceptual framework in the case of vineyards: Study of soil capital, insertion of capital in the business model, study of the chart of accounts according to CARE and structuring of computer tools

Intern: Raphaëlle WATREMET (Internship / AgroParisTech)
Management: Alexandre RAMBAUD
Period : October 2021 - April 2022

Title: Methodological structuring of CARE
Intern: Félix EVAIN (Master 2 / Paris-Dauphine University)
Direction : Alexandre RAMBAUD
Period : February - April 2021

Title: COP 15 for biodiversity and ecological accounting: what synergies?

Student: Clément BOYER (Master 2 / Université Paris-Dauphine)
Institution : University of Paris-Dauphine
Direction : Alexandre RAMBAUD, Clément FEGER & Harold LEVREL
Period: April-September 2020

Subject:

Assess how, in the decision-making context of COP15, it is possible to make proposals on ecological accounting that can represent a real lever for change at different levels of governance. This will result in the construction of a strong mapping of institutional initiatives on ecological accounting for sustainability. A significant amount of time will be devoted to interactions with the academic bearers of the Chair and with other actors working on these subjects. Links will be made between the Chair’s scientific projects/resources and those associated with the Chair, and the political stakes in terms of biodiversity, as brought forward in the framework of the CBD COP.
The aim is to produce a document that highlights:
 The innovations/proposals that can be identified in 2020 in terms of ecological accounting, at the three scales (organization, ecosystem, State) ;
 To discuss these proposals in the light of the objectives set by COP15;
 To highlight the adequacy or inadequacy between the COP15 targets for biodiversity and proposals for ecological accounting;
 To make proposals emanating from the Chair’s scientific project.

(provisional) Title: Assessing the costs of soil preservation for farmers through environmental accounting. Application of the CARE model at Cerfrance

Doctor : Eléonore DISSE
Director: Franck AGGERI (Mines ParisTech) (Professor in management sciences) [director] & Alexandre RAMBAUD [co-director]
Laboratory: CGS (Scientific Management Centre - Mines ParisTech)
Start: 2022
CIFRE funding (Cerfrance)

Title (provisional): Study of the application of the CARE ecological accounting method to a territorial authority, the City of Grenoble

PhD student: Victor COUNILLON
Director: Véronique BLUM (Université Grenoble Alpes) (HDR lecturer in management sciences) [director] & Alexandre RAMBAUD [co-director]
Laboratory : CERAG (Centre d’Études et de Recherches Appliquées à la Gestion - Université Grenoble Alpes)
Start : 2022
CIFRE funding (City of Grenoble)

Title ( provisional): Experimentation of the CARE model with fishing activities (study of marine ecosystems)

Doctorate: Félix EVAIN
Director: Frédérique DEJEAN(Université Paris-Dauphine) (Professor in management sciences) [director] & Alexandre RAMBAUD [co-director]
Laboratory: MOST (Dauphine Recherches en Management - Université Paris-Dauphine)
Start : November 2021

Funded by the ANR DECLAMER (Development of ECoLogical Accounting for
Marine EnviRonment), directed by Pierre SCEMAMA (IFREMER)

Title (provisional): Experimentation and development of an "ecosystem-centred management accounting" for the strategic and multi-scale management of aquatic environments and biodiversity in Occitania

Doctoral candidate : Noubon René YEO
Director: Gérald NARO (University of Montpellier, MRM) [director] & Clément FEGER (AgroParisTech, MRM) [co-director]
Laboratory: AgroParisTech Montpellier and MRM laboratory (University of Montpellier)
Start : February 2021

Title (provisional): Counting what really matters, taking into account the costs of maintaining natural and human capital in agriculture - The implementation of CARE-TDL socio-environmental accounting

PhD student: Louis DUMEAUX
Director: Frédérique DEJEAN (Université Paris-Dauphine) (Professor in management sciences) [director] & Alexandre RAMBAUD [co-director]
Laboratory : MOST (Dauphine Recherches en Management - Université Paris-Dauphine)
Start : September 2020

Funded by the Carrefour Foundation as part of the research programme "Counting agriculture differently, counting what really counts"

Title (provisional): The adaptation and appropriation of the CARE accounting innovation through the implementation of a new management tool reflecting the interests of the actors of the organisation: Case of the Fleury Michon industrial site in Cambrai

Doctorate: Sébastien POULAIN
Direction : Pierre BARET (Excelia Business School - La Rochelle) (Professor HDR in economics) [director] & Alexandre RAMBAUD [co-director]
Laboratory : CEREGE (Management Research Centre - University of Poitiers)
Start : September 2020

Funding of the chair "Evaluating and reporting global performance"(Excelia Business