RESEARCH CENTRE

Inria Centre
at Université Grenoble Alpes

2023
ACTIVITY REPORT

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH:

CNRS, Université de Grenoble Alpes

Project-Team

STEEP

Sustainability transition, environment,
economy and local policy

IN COLLABORATION WITH: Laboratoire Jean Kuntzmann (LJK)

DOMAIN

Digital Health, Biology and Earth

THEME

Earth, Environmental and Energy
Sciences

Contents

Project-Team STEEP

1 Team members, visitors, external collaborators

2 Overall objectives

2.1 Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.2 Objectives and outline of research axes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

3 Research program

3.1 Research axis 1: Global Systemic Risks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.2 Research axis 2: Sociotechnical Alternatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1

2

3
3
4

5
5
8

4 Application domains

10
4.1 Decision aid for public policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.2 Raising awareness of environmental and associated social issues: Dissemination, training,

teaching, popular education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

5 Social and environmental responsibility

11
5.1 Footprint of research activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.2 Impact of research results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

6 Highlights of the year

12

6.1 Publication of the book “World3 et le rapport Meadows, les limites à la croissance – Ques-

tions raisonnées pour aujourd’hui” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
6.2 Foresight exercise on environmental sciences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

7 New software, platforms, open data

13
7.1 New software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
7.1.1 Sankeytool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
7.1.2 STA-Explorer
7.1.3 TransKey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
7.1.4 Data reconciliation tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

8 New results

14
8.1 Systemic risks: global and local . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
8.1.1 CRISIS model
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
8.1.2 Feasibility of energy transition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
8.1.3 Systemic crisis propagation: study of the health sector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
8.1.4 Local Risk Report for the Grenoble Metropolitan Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
8.2 Historical and current evolution of the EROI for oil and gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
8.3 Study of an economy under contraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
8.4 Territorialization of planetary boundaries
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
8.5 Analysis of public policies dedicated to building waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
8.6 Water and work flows in the French agriculture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
8.7 Numerical tools for data and parameter reconciliation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
8.8 Serious games for the exploration and analysis of sociotechnical alternatives
. . . . . . . . 19
8.9 Participatory exercises in territories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
8.10 Research group "Contremodélisation"

9 Partnerships and cooperations

21
9.1 International initiatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
9.1.1 Participation in other International Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
9.3 National initiatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

9.2.1 Visits to international teams

9.2 International research visitors

9.3.1 LINDDA – Living INfrastructure to Design responsible Digital technology for Agroe-

cological transition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

9.3.2 SCALABLE – Metabolism of agricultural biomass: multi-scale representations, vul-

nerability analysis and evaluation by local stakeholders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

9.3.3 TRAJECLIM – Resilience of a polar socio-ecosystem facing anthropic and climate

change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

9.3.4 SysPart – Participatory research into the use and impact of material flow models for

forecasting the challenges of territorial transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
9.3.5 BACCFIRE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

10 Dissemination

24
10.1 Promoting scientific activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
10.1.1 Scientific events: organisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
10.1.2 Journals
10.1.3 Invited talks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
10.1.4 Leadership within the scientific community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
10.1.5 Scientific expertise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
10.1.6 Research administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
10.2 Teaching - Supervision - Juries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
10.2.1 Teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
10.2.2 Supervision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
10.2.3 Juries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
10.3 Popularization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
10.3.1 Conference-debate series and YouTube-channel “Understanding and Acting” . . . . 29
10.3.2 “Faire face, Face cinéma” series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
10.3.3 Articles and contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
10.3.4 Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
10.3.5 Interventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

11 Scientific production

31
11.1 Major publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
11.2 Publications of the year
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
11.3 Other . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
11.4 Cited publications

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Project-Team STEEP

Creation of the Project-Team: 2015 December 01

Keywords

Computer sciences and digital sciences

A5.2. – Data visualization

A6.1. – Methods in mathematical modeling

A6.1.4. – Multiscale modeling

A8.2.1. – Operations research

A9.6. – Decision support

Other research topics and application domains

B2. – Health

B3.1. – Sustainable development

B3.1.1. – Resource management

B3.4. – Risks

B3.4.3. – Pollution

B3.5. – Agronomy

B4.1. – Fossile energy production (oil, gas)

B4.3. – Renewable energy production

B4.4. – Energy delivery

B4.5. – Energy consumption

B7. – Transport and logistics

B8.3. – Urbanism and urban planning

B8.5.1. – Participative democracy

B8.5.3. – Collaborative economy

B9.1.2. – Serious games

B9.2. – Art

B9.6.3. – Economy, Finance

B9.6.9. – Political sciences

B9.9. – Ethics

B9.11. – Risk management

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Inria Annual Report 2023

1 Team members, visitors, external collaborators

Research Scientists

• Emmanuel Prados [Team leader, INRIA, Researcher, until Jun 2023, HDR]

• Peter Sturm [Team leader, INRIA, Senior Researcher, from Jul 2023, HDR]

• Jean-Yves Courtonne [INRIA, ISFP]

• Nils Ferrand [INRAE, Researcher, 50% secondment at Inria]

• Pierre-Yves Longaretti [CNRS, Researcher]

• Emmanuel Prados [INRIA, Researcher, from Jul 2023, HDR]

• Peter Sturm [INRIA, Senior Researcher, until Jun 2023, HDR]

• Sophie Wahnich [CNRS, Senior Researcher]

Faculty Members

• Denis Dupré [Université Grenoble Alpes, Associate Professor, HDR]

• Serge Fenet [UNIV LYON I, Associate Professor, in delegation]

• Guillaume Mandil [Université Grenoble Alpes, Associate Professor]

• Mathieu Mangeot [Université Savoie Mont Blanc, Associate Professor, until Aug 2023, in delegation]

Post-Doctoral Fellows

• Mathilde Boissier [INRIA, Post-Doctoral Fellow, until Oct 2023]

• Hugo Martin [INRIA, Post-Doctoral Fellow]

PhD Students

• Enzo Baquet [Inria]

• Antonin Berthe [Université Grenoble Alpes]

• Alexandre Borthomieu [Université Grenoble Alpes]

• Albert Bouffange [Sciences-Po Lyon, from Sep 2023]

• Louis Delannoy [Inria, until Sep 2023]

• Quentin Desvaux [Grenoble Alpes Métropole]

• Léon Fauste [Université Grenoble Alpes]

• Jérémie Klein [Université Grenoble Alpes, from Oct 2023]

• Emmanuel Krieger [Université Grenoble Alpes]

• Olivier Mauviel [Université Grenoble Alpes, until Sep 2023]

• Damien Rieutor [ADEME]

3

Project STEEP

Technical Staff

• Luana Buisson [Inria, until Mar 2023]

• Roger Pissard [Inria, SED engineer, part-time affiliation with STEEP]

• Thibaut Tezenas Du Montcel [Inria, until Sep 2023]

Interns and Apprentices

• Albert Bouffange [ENS PARIS-SACLAY, Intern, from Feb 2023 until Jul 2023]

• Ariane Dauvergne [G-SCOP, until Jun 2023]

• Hannah Gelblat-Laugier [INRIA, Intern, until Jul 2023]

• Achraf Kerzazi [CNRS, Intern, from Jun 2023 until Aug 2023]

• Jérémie Klein [Université Grenoble Alpes, from Feb 2023 until Sep 2023]

• Clara Saint-Cricq [INRIA, Intern, from Feb 2023 until Aug 2023]

Administrative Assistant

• Marie-Anne Dauphin-Rizzi [INRIA]

External Collaborators

• Julien Alapetite [Terriflux]

• Grégoire Chambaz [Université de Lausanne, Switzerland]

• Catherine Figuière [Université Grenoble Alpes]

• Vincent Jost [CNRS, G-SCOP Lab, Grenoble]

• Agnès Labrousse [Sciences Po Lyon, from Feb 2023]

• Sophie Madelrieux [INRAE]

• Christine Solnon [INSA Lyon]

• Olivier Vidal [CNRS, ISTerre Lab, Grenoble]

• Valérie d’Acremont [Université de Lausanne, Switzerland]

• Gwendoline de Oliveira Neves [Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain]

2 Overall objectives

2.1 Context

“We are eroding the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health and quality of life
worldwide. [. . . ] [However] it is not too late to make a difference, but only if we start now at every level from
local to global, [and by this we mean] a fundamental, system-wide reorganization across technological,
economic and social factors, including paradigms, goals and values.”

Robert Watson, President of the IPBES, on May 6, 2019

Environmental issues now pose a threat to human civilization worldwide. They range from falling
water tables to eroding soils, expanding deserts, biodiversity loss, rising temperatures, etc. For example,

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Inria Annual Report 2023

half the world’s population lives in countries where water tables are falling as aquifers are being depleted;
roughly a third of the world’s cropland is losing topsoil at an excessive rate; glaciers are melting in all of the
world’s major mountains. The consequences on the present human societies are critical; they comprise for
example increasing threats on global food security, increasing pressures resulting in important population
movements (such as climate refugees) and explosive geopolitical tensions. See [63] for a global picture of
the situation.

The risks associated with delayed reaction and adaptation times make the situation urgent. Delayed
reactions significantly increase the magnitude of the overshoot of the planet’s carrying capacity and the
probability of uncontrolled and irreversible evolutions on a number of fronts, potentially leading to global
environmental collapse [80, 70]. This systemic problem is amplified by two facts: the environment is
degrading on all fronts at the same time and at the global planetary scale, a first in human history.

Sustainable development is often formulated in terms of a required balance between the environ-
mental, economic and social dimensions, but in practice public policies addressing sustainability issues
are dominantly oriented towards environment management in Western countries. This approach is prob-
lematic as environmental problems and sustainability issues result from socio-economic phenomena
(for example the economic growth model which is strengthened by powerful and polluting technologies).
In addition, most efforts towards tackling them bear on developing technological solutions. However,
it is clear, for several years already, that this will not be sufficient [68, 69, 75]. We need to rethink our
socio-economic and institutional models in order to leave room for a possible paradigm shift. In this per-
spective, we believe that crucial steps should be taken in research to help elaborating and implementing
socio-economic alternatives.

Although environmental challenges are monitored worldwide, the search for appropriate lines of
action must nevertheless take place at all institutional levels, in particular at local scales. We indeed
believe that local levels are pivotal in this effort. In particular, we think that two local scales are going to
be increasingly dominant in the near future: urban areas (more exactly the employment catchment areas
of main cities) and “regions” (such as régions in France, Länder in Germany or Province in Italy). It seems
essential to us that local policies and actions are made coherent and articulated across different scales,
from local to global.

2.2 Objectives and outline of research axes

The research program of the STEEP team takes the above warnings seriously and aims to “help bring
about a profound transformation of economies” at all scales, with a particular focus on sub-national
scales over which actors have more control. This program is articulated around two axes.

The GSR (Global Systemic Risks) axis analyzes, on a global scale, the trend dynamics of risks and
collapse, with a characteristic time step of the order of a decade, as well as the risks of systemic contagion,
with a much shorter time step, due to the interconnection of key sectors of the economy (e.g. energy,
finance, food supply chains).

Our objective here is to rely on or develop numerical models (such as system dynamics, hybrid models
including agents, etc.) that allow us to understand the vulnerabilities of our society and the environmental
and socio-economic determinants that will constrain its sustainability. The systemic dimension is a key
point here. Given the levels of uncertainty and complexity linked to the factors involved here, the idea is
not to make predictions, but to understand the mechanisms and processes at play by providing robust
qualitative analyses (or even semi-quantitative ones; providing orders of magnitude or comparative
elements, for example). This work has for us a double function: 1) to bring new crucial elements of
scientific enlightenment to the public debate on these issues and to continue to alert and sensitize the
public opinion and the different actors (which is for us an absolute necessity); 2) to enlighten the decision
making regarding the alternatives that can be implemented (in terms of vulnerability and sustainability
determinants).

The second research axis is called STA (SocioTechnical Alternatives). Its objective is to contribute to
enrich the debates around possible alternatives: what would an economy within the planetary limits look
like and what living standards would correspond to it? What trade-offs would have to be made between
socio-economic and environmental criteria, between vulnerabilities, equity and territorial sustainability?
The approach adopted does not consist in seeking to optimize the existing system but to imagine and
evaluate radically different futures. In this perspective, the first step is to correctly describe "where we are

Project STEEP

5

starting from and where we want to go", which might then guide reflections on the trajectory ("how do we
get there?").

Work in this axis relies on several types of approach: modeling the material basis of the economy (in
particular through material and energy flow analysis), which requires numerical tools (such as numer-
ical optimization and uncertainty propagation), modeling immaterial and institutional aspects of the
territorial metabolism, participatory processes.

Overall, the objective of STEEP is to develop tools for decision aiding which are based on or enable a
systemic vision of the issues – both globally and locally – and to implement sustainable policies at local
scales, in particular to transform the productive system and consumption patterns.

• It is very important to integrate the whole decision process in the analysis of sustainability issues,
for three reasons: 1) to ensure that the designed models address the most relevant issues in terms
of sustainability; 2) to develop tools that have a real impact; and 3) to amplify the effective use of
these tools by the different stakeholders in the territories (decision makers, decision-help agencies,
citizens, organized civil society, . . . ).

• The focus on local scales reflects not only the relevance of these decision levels, but also the relative

lack of relevant modeling exercises at such scales.

• Because the numerous and interrelated pressures exerted by human activities on the environment
make the identification of sustainable pathways arduous in a context of complex and sometimes
conflicting stakeholders and socio-ecological interactions, the systemic and integrative dimension,
whether multisectoral or multi-scale, is essential from the scientific point of view, as well as for
the decision process. We expect to provide highly integrated tools compatible with practical use
taking into account the intrinsic constraints of decision processes. A strong level of integration is
desirable to identify feedback phenomena which would be very hard to anticipate otherwise. This
is why we also strive to develop transdisciplinary approaches.

Figure 1 is an attempt to map the structure of the research axes and the links between them and their
components. The figure also includes our previous work on LUCC (Land Use and land Cover Change)
modeling which is complementary.

3 Research program

3.1 Research axis 1: Global Systemic Risks

Strictly speaking, in the scientific literature, the term “risk” designates a hazard compounded by its
probability of occurrence (e.g., the risk of a plane crashing). Systemic risks refer to system wide risks
(e.g., risk of financial crises of large magnitude). Global systemic risks (cross-sectoral risks) arise because
systemic risks are often interconnected, and characterized by many feedbacks at various spatial and
temporal scales (e.g., climate change and its impacts on the environment and human life and activities).
A number of global systemic risks are subject to an intrinsic form of indeterminacy that invalidates the
very possibility of a probabilistic approach. Quite often, the term risk is then used in a more casual way,
referring to a vulnerability associated to a hazard, and this second, more informal meaning is the one
used in this document, in particular because some risks are indeterminate in the meaning just specified.
The literature devoted to systemic risks is extended and varied, with roots in exact and environmental
sciences [77, 74] or in social sciences [64]. Two areas of systemic risks have been the object of a particular
focus in the past decades: environmental risks (e.g., climate change), and financial risks, but many more
types of interconnected risks can be identified. They are often grouped into five categories: economic,
geopolitical, environmental, social and technological. In the economic sector, the main risks are related
to market instabilities, particularly in the energy sector, and financial risks. Geopolitical risks are largely
related to potential sources of conflict, whether or not linked to the threat of terrorism. On the environ-
mental front, climate change, loss of biodiversity and their consequences appear to be dominant, but
natural disasters can also play a role; issues related to changes in land use (deforestation, erosion and
desertification, artificialization) are also very important. At the societal or socio-political level, issues of

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Inria Annual Report 2023

Figure 1: Sketch of the team structure: building blocks of the two research axes and logical connections.
The orange and the green areas respectively depict the contents of the Global Systemic Risks axis (GSR)
and of the Sociotechnical Alternatives axis (STA). Participatory processes can (and should) intervene in
each part of STA (participatory modeling, participatory simulation, participatory decision-aiding).
The meaning of the arrows is as follows: (1) GSR’s inform on the vulnerabilities of current or imagined
sociotechnical systems and potentially change actors’ representations, priorities and decisions; (2)
Long term risks are currently analyzed through our work on the World3 model; (3) Short term risks are
currently analyzed through our work on the energy/macroeconomy/macrofinance nexus; (4) Long term
degradation trends increase the probability of occurrence of (short term) domino-effect crises; (5) The
nexus model is an input to assess the feasibility of an energy transition; (6) The latter limits the option
space for STA’s; (7) The most common way to navigate between the 4 STA blocks is to start by describing,
assessing and evaluating the current system and then to identify levers of action to modify it. Note
that this cycle is performed for several alternatives depending on the chosen levers. STA’s are seen as
biophysically consistent narratives that feed (and derive from) people’s imaginations. After deliberation,
a decision is made on the desired alternative and actions are taken; (8) It is also possible to go the other
way round, that is, to deliberate on the desired goals (here, desired indicator values) and then examine
the option space corresponding to these goals, in terms of STA’s and levers of action. Sociotechnical
lock-ins can be an obstacle to the decision on, and implementation of, levers of action; (9) LUCC (Land
Use and land Cover Change) is a planetary boundary which is triggering GSR’s; (10) Finally, LUCC models
contribute to the description of the system and the spatialization it provides enables the translation of
environmental pressures into impacts on ecosystems.

inequality, food security, access to water, health risks (particularly pandemics) and migration are promin-
ent. As for technological risks, they largely concern the fragility of modern computerized communication
systems and network infrastructures (e.g. electricity distribution networks). These categories of risk and
their interactions are represented in Figure 2.

From a process point of view, global systemic risks can be grouped into two categories:

• Long term trends related risks: These are produced by the decade or century long evolutions of our
modern global societies. They arise from the growing tension between resource use, production of
(often diffuse) pollutions of various kinds, and the capacity of our environment to absorb the related
impacts. The induced environmental changes affect our socio-ecosystems, and are amplified by
existing socio-political, economic and historical dynamics.

• Short term, randomly triggered risks: These risks occur on much shorter term (months to a
few years). They are intermittent, random1 and related to the high level of interdependence of

1As for the predictability of their time and order of occurrence.

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7

Figure 2: Global systemic risks and their interconnections according to the 2011 World Economic Forum
report (reproduced in [74]). These risks are assessed by expert opinion and the importance attributed to
them reflects in part cyclical concerns.

many sectors of activity, to intrinsic instabilities produced by this interdependence, and to their
propagation through all sectors of activity through a kind of domino effect. The occurrence of such
risks is accelerating. In the last decade or so, one can mention the 2008 financial crisis, the COVID
crisis and the russian-ukrainian conflict and its implication on global energy and food security.
This acceleration is not coincidental, as these risks interact with and are amplified by long term
trend ones.

The emblematic model of the first category is the World3 model developed by the Meadows group
for its famous report on the limits to growth [78, 77]. The re-analyses of [81, 82] and [60] have renewed
interest in this model while raising more specific questions about the robustness of the conclusions
drawn from it. We approach these questions through an analysis on three complementary fronts:

1. An analysis of the choices of parameterization based on a sensitivity analysis that is much finer

than the existing ones.

2. An analysis of modeling choices based on a sectoral and geographical disaggregation of the model.

3. Elements of epistemological analysis.

The main practical interest of this research lies in the possibility of discerning the risks of collapse in
the short term (pre-2050) or further out in time (post-2050), both of which require different mitigation
and adaptation strategies that must be properly anticipated.

In terms of systemic contagion risks, and although an exhaustive analysis of all the categories of
potential risks is impossible in an exploratory phase, the energy/finance/supply chain nexus plays a
particular role in our societies and presents a specific criticality. Sectoral or cross-sectoral analyses of

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Inria Annual Report 2023

certain aspects of this nexus already exist in the literature (see for example [73, 76, 62]), but apparently no
overall model has been produced on this subject, and in particular no dynamic model. Such a realization
would constitute in itself a significant advance.

More precisely, our work concerns the following points:

1. Identify the most important feedback loops of the energy/supply chain/logistics/finance system.

2. Identify the most fragile links in this system.

3. Assess the likelihood of this type of risk and, if necessary, define mitigation strategies.

3.2 Research axis 2: Sociotechnical Alternatives

The main motivation of the STA axis is to help actors produce narratives of the future which are consistent
from a biophysical viewpoint and which take into account indirect (systemic) impacts. In a more and
more constrained world, this means being able to identify and decide on trade-offs relative to the
different aspects of the problem. Another way of formulating the axis’ goal is that we wish to design
planning tools that would address social and ecological stakes, and reflect on their use by a variety of
actors, in a democratic context.

Our work concerns three aspects: (1) description of current sociotechnical systems, (2) description

and assessment of STAs, (3) participation.

1 – Description of sociotechnical systems. The cornerstone of the STA research axis are a method
and associated software for multi-scale Supply Chain Material Flow Analysis (SC-MFA, see [67] for an
overview and Figure 3 for a simple example). Material flows (production, transformation, exchanges,
consumption, waste) are the basic building blocks of our supply chain studies. We designed methods
and tools to model a supply chain (in terms of products, sectors and possible flows between them) and
reconcile incomplete and/or inconsistent data. The flows allow:

• To apprehend up/downstream vulnerabilities of supply chains (e.g. dependence on imports),

• To question the use of natural resources and the possible problems of competition for use (e.g.: can

the development of biofuels lead to competition between food and energy production?),

• And finally to estimate environmental footprints (e.g. carbon, energy, water, chemical pollution,

land use, etc.).

Figure 3: Example of a Sankey diagram resulting from a single-scale SC-MFA: Agriculture raw materials
fed to livestock in France in 2015 (millions of tons) [65].

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2 – Description and assessment of sociotechnical alternatives. The most significant novelty com-
pared to our pre-2018 work relative to territorial metabolism is to tackle the design and assessment of
sociotechnical alternatives (STAs) for the future. The term alternative is used in place of scenario to
emphasize that we currently describe possible points of arrival in the future and not pathways to move
from today’s situation to the desired outcome.

The objective of this research program is to help shed light on the debates around possible alternatives:
what would a one-planet economy look like and what standards of living would it imply? What comprom-
ises will have to be made between socio-economic and environmental criteria, between resilience, equity
and sustainability of territories?

Our work is structured around four main objectives:

• To propose a formalism to describe sociotechnical alternatives. In particular, we are working on
extensions of physical supply/use tables, able to provide information on the interactions between
materials and energy. We are also interested in coupling quantitative (technical dimension) and
qualitative (social dimension) representations.

• To propose a methodology (and eventually a software) allowing groups of actors to imagine their

own alternatives,

• To develop a methodology and associated tools to evaluate an alternative (cf. Figure 4):

– What needs does it cover?

– What are the local, remote or global pressures and impacts generated? How do they compare

to local and global limits?

– What would be the vulnerabilities of the system described?

– What are the socio-economic performances of the system described (e.g., in terms of alloca-

tion of the workforce, allocation of added-value. . . )?

• To help comparing alternatives and structuring related debates.

3 – Participation. The work on STAs for the future motivated this last sub-axis which aims both at
empowering local actors and to learn from them, in line with principles of post-normal science [72].
As explained above, one of our main objectives is to contribute towards having possible sociotechnical
alternatives for a territory be co-constructed by all relevant stakeholders and be debated democratically.
This covers all aspects, from the definition of what is at stake and of the criteria to use for assessing
alternatives, to the actual co-construction and assessment of the latter. Furthermore, such participative
processes may benefit from some form of training or awareness-raising on systemic issues. Our activities
along these lines have started in 2021.

Figure 4: Schematic overview of research questions and concepts underlying sociotechnical alternatives.
Center: targeted sociotechnical alternatives are typically of multi-scale nature. Borders: the four dimen-
sions to be considered in evaluating sociotechnical alternatives (see text).

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Inria Annual Report 2023

4 Application domains

One of the characteristics and objectives of our research project is to try to provide integrated and systemic
visions and approaches to reduce and prepare for the consequences (shocks, depletion of resources, etc.)
due to the overshooting of planetary limits and to identify the room for manoeuvre and means of action
available to us to act against them. It is an “applicative” project as such.

Most of our scientific activities aim at aiding the design of, and decision on, public policies. Another
important general goal of our activities is to raise awareness of environmental and associated social
issues, and of their interrelated and systemic nature, through dissemination, education and training
activities. Indeed, we are convinced that decision aid is intrinsically intertwined with such dissemination
activities.

In the following, we detail both of these aspects.

4.1 Decision aid for public policies

We pursue this goal through the development of scientific knowledge, models and tools that aim to be
directly relevant to policy questions. Further, we do so, whenever possible, in direct collaboration with
public authorities or other relevant partners (such as representative bodies for agrifood supply chains).
Besides contributing to scientific production as such, we are also present in expert groups or scientific
councils of public bodies (municipalities, regional parks, etc.).

In the following, we list a few examples of policy-relevant issues we address or have addressed in our

work. This list is not exhaustive.

• Material and energy flow analysis (of supply chains or “entire” economies), or MFA. With applica-

tions for instance in:

– Ecological accounting for sectorial pressure assessment.

– Analysis of public policies dedicated to building waste.

– Decision aid for territorial strategies in the agrifood, energy and other sectors. In collaboration

with, or through our startup Terriflux.

• Land cover and land use modeling, urban economy and urban/periurban planning:

– Modeling of land cover changes.

– Integrated modeling of land use and transportation.

• Systemic risk modeling and analysis, both on global and local scales:

– Studying global systemic risks, for instance by analyzing the iconic World3 model [79, 77].

– Systemic risks on the health sector.

– Systemic risks on a local territory (Grenoble metropolitan area).

• Nexus modeling:

– Modeling and analysis of the energy/macroeconomics/finance nexus.

– Assessing the feasibility of an energy transition.

– Analysis of cascade risks (domino effects). The present and future focus is on the con-
sequences of a blackout on the health sector and on risks associated to potential supply
chain disruptions.

• Particaptory approaches, with applications to territorial foresight studies or to several of the above
issues (such as for decision aid for territorial strategies in the agrifood, energy and other sectors).

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4.2 Raising awareness of environmental and associated social issues: Dissemination,

training, teaching, popular education

We believe it to be important that scientists, based on scientific knowledge, engage themselves in raising
awareness of the general public. As a matter of fact, we think that the systemic nature of environmental
and social issues is not yet sufficiently developed in public discourse.

We try to contribute to awareness raising through tools available to scientists, and according to
principles outlined for example in the MakeSEnS initiative we co-coordinated [61], the Avis “Entre liberté
et responsabilité : l’engagement public des chercheurs et chercheuses” published in 2023 by COMETS
(CNRS Ethical Committee) [66], or a similar report produced for the University of Lausanne in 2022 [71].
Team members are involved in the French government’s initiative Formation à la transition écolo-
gique, aimed at familiarizing all French public service executives with the challenges of an ecological
transition (see section 10.1.5). Since several years we teach interdisciplinary courses on the mentioned
systemic issues; see also the Anthropocene FACTS initiative we have created and carried for several years
(section 10.2.1). Our conference-debate series and YouTube-channel “Understanding and Acting” (see
section 10.3.1) has been launched in 2016 and has featured a wide range of scientific presentations on
environmental and social issues. We also intervene in many general audience actions and in popular
education, through presentations, round tables, interviews, and the animation of our Global Systemic
Risks fresco.

Overall, we consider this as a contribution to Inria’s mission of knowledge transfer to society.

5 Social and environmental responsibility

5.1 Footprint of research activities

While the team does not apply any strict formal rules concerning the following issues, it is probably safe to
say that a certain level of awareness on environmental issues that is natural given our line of work, guides
many of our “daily” decisions. Examples of how environmental impacts are considered are provided in
the following.

Contrary to what some might suspect, we do use computers, networks and other digital equipment
for our research. . . , meaning that the direct footprint of our research activities is higher than if we were
working with pen and paper only. Generally speaking, we aim at keeping our footprint as low as possible
given the requirements of our work. For instance, computing equipment is used as long as possible (the
current average age of our desktop computers for instance, is more than 8 years and these lines are written
on a notebook of 10 years of age). Criteria for choosing publication venues include where conferences are
held (to lower the footprint of work travel). The number of trips by plane in the last years is probably way
below Inria average. Many team members use the bicycle for home-to-work trips, sometimes for work
trips as such. The ratio of vegetarian over meat-based dishes taken for lunch at the local cantine, is rather
high compared to the national average. The majority of our collaborations, be they with academic or with
other partners, are local (in Grenoble or within the Région). This is natural given that our work requires
partnerships with territorial authorities for instance, but is also a matter of choice. Besides trying to limit
the direct footprint of our work, some team members are also involved in initiatives whose general aim is
to reduce the environmental impact of research, such as Campus d’après Grenoble and MakeSEns.

Having said all this, we think that on average, the environmental and social impact scientists have is
dominated by the topics and applications they choose to work on, more so than by the direct impact of
their day-to-day work-related activities.

5.2 Impact of research results

All of the team’s research activities are directly dedicated to environmental and social issues. On the one
hand, this concerns both of our research axes – Global Systemic Risks and Sociotechnical Alternatives –
and on the other, the type of collaborations we build to underpin these axes – partnerships with different
territorial and environmental bodies and also more and more with civil society.

Besides research activites per se, we also pursue various dissemination activities related to social and

environmental issues, towards general audiences, and give transdisciplinary university courses.

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Inria Annual Report 2023

6 Highlights of the year

6.1 Publication of the book “World3 et le rapport Meadows, les limites à la croissance

– Questions raisonnées pour aujourd’hui”

The year 2022 marked the 50th anniversary of the report “The Limits to Growth”[79] to the Club of Rome.
This report on the limits to physical growth in a finite world is an iconic work in sustainability science.
In order to celebrate and popularize it, the STEEP team coordinated the edition of a FAQ on this report,
the underlying World3 model, and limits to growth in a broad sense. Scientists and members of the
civil society were interviewed to collect a wide range of questions: on the model as such, underlying
assumptions, the public and scientific reception of the report, its destiny after the initial publication, its
impacts, and so forth. These were then clustered and compiled into a list of 24 questions, submitted to
knowledgeable researchers who provided chapters answering them. Some chapters were (co-) authored
by team members (cf. [34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39]). The finally produced book of about 260 pages [33],
published in november 2023, aims at popularizing the issues raised by one of the first acts of global
systemic modeling, widely known in the 1970s but mostly forgotten since. The main intended audience
is scientists in social and human sciences, but the book is also accessible to the general public. Initial
versions of the book chapters are accessible here. Several events accompanied the launching of the book
(see section 10.3.5).

Figure 5: Cover of the book “World3 et le rapport Meadows, les limites à la croissance – Questions
raisonnées pour aujourd’hui” [33].

6.2 Foresight exercise on environmental sciences

2023 was a year of evaluation for our project-team. This evaluation, coordinated by Inria’s Evaluation
Committee, is an important step in the team’s life cycle. In particular, it enabled us to elaborate collectively
on the future of all teams involved in the environmental sciences theme. We have produced a summary
of this foresight, which raises more questions than it answers, but which reflects the topic’s complexity
and the debate that has opened up within the institute itself.

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7 New software, platforms, open data

7.1 New software

7.1.1 Sankeytool

Name: Web app for drawing Sankey diagrams

Scientific Description: A Sankey diagram is a visualization of sectors that are arranged in layers: in each
layer, sectors are represented by nodes which are organized and aligned vertically. Flows are only
possible between distinct layers, therefore they are mainly horizontally oriented. Each flow is
represented by a graphic link (e.g. a Bézier curve) having a width corresponding to the flow volume.
The main objective is to visualize an economic sector or another structure in the most efficient
way, in other words the representation of the elements must facilitate human understanding of
the structure. Literature offers several criteria which can be used and optimized to achieve this
objective. This software generates Sankey diagrams automatically. The creation includes several
steps, each of them focuses on the resolution of a specific optimization problem. The formulation
of these is inspired by the article "Optimal Sankey Diagrams via Integer Programming" written by
Zarate et al. in 2018. The software includes an implementation of this and several new methods.
They are based on solving linear programming optimization problems.

Functional Description: The software is an online web app that allows manual and automatic sankey
diagram plotting. Among the functions these diagrams can be exported in svg or pdf format.

A Sankey diagram is a type of visualization of flows (of data, physical entities, money, etc.) between
sectors (for example, economic sectors). The main entries of the software are a table comprising
a description of these sectors and the flows, as well as the flows’ volume. The software contains
functions that aim at computing an optimal disposition of the flow diagram (position of sectors and
flows on the produced chart), according to different possible criteria. For instance, a disposition
that minimizes the number of crossings between flows or that contains as horizontal as possible
flows.

URL: http://terriflux.fr

Contact: Julien Alapetite

Participants: Jean-Yves Courtonne, Julien Alapetite

7.1.2 STA-Explorer

Name: Socio-Technical Alternatives Explorer

Keywords: Decision aid, Ecological transition scenarios

Functional Description: The software is a decision support tool that allows to:

* Describe an economic model, in different territories with different types of actors, in terms of
bio-physical exchanges (to take into account the interactions between sectors, for example the
fact that renewable energies consume materials which in turn require energy to be extracted and
transformed) * Describe a Socio-Technical Alternative (STA), i.e., an arrival point in the future that
is coherent from a biophysical point of view (as opposed to the description of a past situation)
* From this description, the software allows the alternative to be evaluated by "reconciling" by
optimization the parameters controlling the value of the flows rather than the flows themselves.

URL: https://gitlab.inria.fr/steep/sta-explore

Contact: Jean-Yves Courtonne

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7.1.3 TransKey

Inria Annual Report 2023

Keywords: Serious game, Flow visualization, Collaborative science

Functional Description: TransKey is a framework for modeling and serious games for transition support,
based on a generic model to support new transition game designs, adapted from previous MFA
(material flow analysis) games and goals. The framework is under development. A first playable
game has been completed and tested with users. General target features for TransKey are: repres-
enting multiple resource stocks and flows, their dynamics, stakeholders’ constraints and control,
exogeneous drivers, multi-scale representations, player friendliness, data fitting when required,
connecting material and digital version. A general description is given in https://hal.science/hal-
04231486.

URL: https://gitlab.inria.fr/steep/transkey

Contact: Mathilde Boissier

7.1.4 Data reconciliation tools

Keywords: Data reconciliation, Operational research, Constraint Programming

Functional Description: To facilitate a meaningful comparison, multiple algorithms have been de-
veloped. A checker is proposed to ensure that the provided results are well-formed and respect
the problem’s constraints. A visualization program is also proposed, along with an algorithm that
provides the optimum, to compare the difference with it. A random instance generator has been
developed to carry out larger-scale tests. Finally, numerous algorithms have already been described
and a benchmark of real instances is offered to establish a preliminary comparison framework.

Publications: hal-03595273v1, hal-04305015v1

Contact: Alexandre Borthomieu

Participants: Alexandre Borthomieu, Peter Sturm, Jean-Yves Courtonne, Vincent Jost

Partners: INP Grenoble, CNRS, UGA

8 New results

8.1 Systemic risks: global and local

Participants:

Antonin Berthe, Enzo Baquet, Valérie d’Acremont, Louis Delannoy,
Serge Fenet, Pierre-Yves Longaretti, Mathieu Mangeot, Hugo Martin,
Emmanuel Prados, Peter Sturm.

The Global Systemic Risks research axis of the team focuses at present on the analysis of the en-
ergy/macroeconomics/finance nexus on the one hand (conducted by Pierre-Yves Longaretti and Hugo
Martin) and on the feasability of the energy transition on the other (conducted by Pierre-Yves Longaretti
and Antonin Berthe). The choice of this topic is driven by the central role of energy in developed countries
societies and economies. The specific approach adopted here focuses on critical topics that are not much
investigated in the existing literature on the energy transition. Both activities are conducted through
the elaboration of dedicated models, see next. We now investigate systemic risks also on local scales, as
described in the last two parts of this section.

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8.1.1 CRISIS model

15

The CRISIS model (Cascading Reactions in Society’s Interconnected Systems) is designed to address the
major issue of the nexus just mentioned, i.e., the role of energy tensions and financial speculation on
structural macroeconomic crises. In particular, this model aims at pinpointing the dynamical conditions
leading to long term economic decline and its consequences. This model has been calibrated this year
and a central scenario is currently explored.

8.1.2 Feasibility of energy transition

The feasability of the energy transition research effort focuses on two aspects: speed and depth of
penetration of the electric vehicle transition and speed of deployment of renewable sources of energy,
through the elaboration of dedicated models. The main research question addressed in this way is the
ability to cope with present and upcoming tensions on oil flows in the economy, due to increasing energy
costs of oil exploitation (a topic explored in depth in the course of the PhD thesis of Louis Delannoy [42],
see also our related works [18, 16]).

8.1.3 Systemic crisis propagation: study of the health sector

In January 2022, Enzo Baquet started a PhD thesis focusing on the analysis of the dynamics of the
propagation of intra- and inter-sectoral disruptions in the context of short-term crises. This work will
ultimately lead on the creation of a modeling methodology, but it first focuses on the development of a
particular model guided by the central case study: the impact of an electrical blackout on the civil health
infrastructure. In this context, Enzo is currently doing a 6-month research stay at the Unisanté center of
the University of Lausanne, our partner. In a participatory approach, he currently works on formalizing
with the actors involved a description of their perception of the anticpated impacts (their different
possible states, as well as the probabilities of transition between different types of degraded states).
Afterwards, Enzo will focus on a criticality analysis of the intra- and inter-sector connections identified in
the first step, and that constitute the main vectors of crisis propagation. This type of analysis is based
on a typology of relevant modes of criticality (for example, vulnerability/redundancy of inter-sectoral
connections, intensity of said connections, etc.), and not only constitutes an obligatory and common
point of passage whatever the modeling method, but is also a scientific production in itself, in which
systemic analysis plays a crucial role for the academic community as well as for involved stake-holders.

8.1.4 Local Risk Report for the Grenoble Metropolitan Area

The local authorities of Grenoble and adjacent territories2 have launched a long-term initiative entitled
l’Atelier des Futurs. Its goal is to reconsider public action with regard to the complexity of current
and coming issues (social, economic, environmental) and often contradictory injunctions between the
urgencies of the short term and the uncertainties of the long term. To be able to better understand the
changes linked to the climate and social degradations, and the associated public action methods, to
share knowledge and experiences: these are the expectations expressed by elected officials faced with
the complexity of territorial issues. STEEP was the first academic partner to join the initiative and sign
(through Inria) its charter. We are particularly interested in aspects related to territorial prospective,
participation, and risk analysis which are at the heart of the initiative. The first concrete action launched
within l’Atelier des Futurs is concerned with the creation of a “Local Risk Report” for the area (about
500,000 inhabitants), nicknamed RARRe (Rapport annuel sur les risques et la résilience dans la région
Grenobloise). STEEP has been involved since the beginning, to provide scientific and general expertise.
The idea of this action is to identify vulnerabilities and especially, systemic links between them, as well
as attenuation or preparation measures, on an annual basis, inspired by the Davos Economic Forum’s
annual Global Risk report. 2022 was dedicated to the specification of the perimeter of the first Local Risk
Report and of the processes to be used to establish and later disseminate this first report. Our Systemic
Risk Fresco (see Section 10.3.3) was used, among other approaches, to fuel discussions.

2Grenoble Alpes Métropole, Département de l’Isère, EP SCoT de la Grande Région de Grenoble, Ville de Grenoble, Massif du

Vercors, Pays Voironnais, Le Grésivaudan, Parcs de Chartreuse et du Vercors, Agence d’urbanisme.

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Inria Annual Report 2023

Figure 6: Overview of the 6 families of risks identified in the l’Atelier des Futurs initiative.

In 2023, 44 risks were identified as relevant to the Grenoble area. They are grouped into 6 thematic

families (see Figure 6):

• Climate change, pollution, ecosystem collapse and natural or technological disasters

• (Un) availability of ressources and (dys) functioning of networks

• Economic activities

• (In) ability to act, anticipate and transform

• (In) capacity to respond to social needs

• Social cohesion

A questionnaire was created, tested, and then submitted to three panels of stakeholders (elected officials,
citizens, business owners). The goal is to understand how these risks are perceived by the population, in
terms of gravity, likelihood (or being already in existence), possibility to act against them, the effect of
actions already in place, the differentiation between local and global impacts of risks, etc. The collected
responses are currently being analyzed. First results as well as the philosophy of the overall project, will
be presented on 6 February 2024 to a forum for elected officials of the Grenoble area, and the first edition
of the planned yearly local risk report is planned for spring 2024. This first edition will present the full
analysis of the results obtained with the risk perception survey, as well as a description of the above cited
risks, including a description of scientific or other knowledge on them, especially pertaining to the local
impacts.

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8.2 Historical and current evolution of the EROI for oil and gas

Participants:

Louis Delannoy, Pierre-Yves Longaretti, Emmanuel Prados.

As fossil fuels are exploited, they become more difficult to access and require more energy to extract.
The continued decline in the EROI (energy return on (energy) investment) of oil and gas is therefore
of concern, as these two energy sources still account for 52% of global energy consumption. However,
these ratios are measured at the primary energy stage and should rather be estimated at the final or
useful stage, where the energy is closest to the reality of economic processes. Following this principle, the
EROI of fossil fuels are today comparable to or even lower than those of renewable energies (including
short-term energy storage technologies in the calculation). This is part of the emerging consensus of the
net energy analysis community, but its dissemination is hampered by frequent misunderstandings about
EROI inherited from the lack of a formal methodology before the 2010s. To address this, we present the
various steps that led to this emerging consensus, synthetize the EROIs of oil and gas at the primary, final,
and useful stages from 1971 to 2019, and discuss the implications for the low-carbon transition [15]. This
work is based on our previous works on EROI, such as [6, 7, 42].

8.3 Study of an economy under contraction

Participants:

Albert Bouffange,
nès Labrousse, Guillaume Mandil, Mathieu Mangeot.

Jean-Yves Courtonne,

Jérémie Klein, Ag-

This work is based on the internships of Jérémie Klein and Albert Bouffange [50]. Both of them have

continued their work in the STEEP team as PhD students.

The Cuban special period is one of the rare cases in history when a country’s economy suffered a sharp
contraction in its supplies of raw materials essential to its metabolic functioning. This happened after the
collapse of the USSR in 1991, which was Cuba’s main trading partner, when the island saw its imports of
several raw materials plummet. Major changes were made to cope with this shock. To study the territory
during this period, flow data and coefficients from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nation, the International Energy Agency, scientific and grey literature were collected. Then, using the
data reconciliation tools of our team, analyses of material and energy flows enabled us to take a closer
look at the Cuban metabolism before and after the collapse of the USSR. An approach by the economic
actors (formal and informal) have made it possible to highlight the question of the organization mode
for the agricultural system, highlighting the role of institution and their various links in the agricultural
system. Overall, the island of Cuba saw its oil supply fall by more than 60% between 1989 and 1993,
and its fertilizer supply by more than 70%. Differences by economic sector were highlighted, with some
sectors particularly affected materially, such as transport. Via a number of social indicators (Gini index,
life expectancy, quality of education, access to electricity, etc) the state of satisfaction of human needs
was studied. We can see that the quality of energy, education and healthcare services has been only
slightly affected by the severe energy constraints. Political choices can therefore be made to prioritize the
satisfaction of needs, even in times of crisis. However, by comparing energy intensity at this period with
low-consumption scenarios, we show some limits to how the Cuban case can serve as a basis for thinking
about an ecologically sustainable society. It seems to be still too much dependant to fossil fuels. This
historical case study allows us to imagine what could happen to our economies in the event of an energy
contraction, the extent to which our human needs can or cannot continue to be met, and the questions
of social organization that such an event would entail.

8.4 Territorialization of planetary boundaries

Participants: Guillaume Mandil, Gwendoline de Oliveira Neves, Damien Rieutor.

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Inria Annual Report 2023

The aim of Damien Rieutor’s PhD thesis is to provide a framework for downscaling the concept of
planetary boundaries to the territorial level. This concept is an undeniable success of Earth system
science. This success has attracted the attention of other scientific fields and sectors, notably public
institutions, transforming reflections on local implementation of the concept into a major scientific and
societal issue. Numerous attempts to implement the concept on a sub-global scale have raised a number
of questions about this approach, and have highlighted the difficulties of operationalizing ’Planetary
Limits’ locally. These difficulties are due mainly to the dominant approach employed, which seeks
above all to spatialize the Planetary Limits framework. The literature review we have carried out in this
work examines this approach with regard to the distinction between the framework of Planetary Limits
(biophysical dimension, spatial vision) and the concept of Planetary Limits (sociological dimension,
territorial vision). Our results show that, by focusing on the biophysical aspects of the framework,
it obscures the anthropological objectives of the concept and reduces the importance of the social
specificities of the context. In this way, we demonstrate the limits of spatializing the framework. It
hinders the concept’s local operationalization, weakening its appropriation by territorial stakeholders
and maintaining inconsistencies between the concept’s global essence, its sub-global translation and
local socio-biophysical specificities.

8.5 Analysis of public policies dedicated to building waste

Participants:

Jean-Yves Courtonne, Quentin Desvaux, Catherine Figuière, Guil-
laume Mandil.

Since November 1st, 2020, Quentin Desvaux has been involved in a CIFRE PhD thesis with the STEEP
team, the CREG lab and the DPCTD (Direction de la Prévention, de la Collecte et du Traitement des
Déchets) of Grenoble Alpes Métropole. The goal is to support the local authority in deploying a waste man-
agement strategy for the construction sector that is consistent with the specific features of its territory. The
year 2023 was devoted to completing the work undertaken: finalizing the analysis of construction waste
management and processing channels (based in particular on the team’s material flow analysis tools);
operational implementation of policy measures; coordination of working groups; perpetuation of the
dynamics initiated with the stakeholders involved; restitution, promotion and dissemination of Quentin’s
work through public institutions. This work is a contribution towards the decompartmentalization of the
academic and professional sectors. A journal article has been submitted recently.

8.6 Water and work flows in the French agriculture

Participants:

Jean-Yves Courtonne, Hannah Gelblat-Laugier.

Hannah Gelblat conducted her master’s internship in the context of Ademe’s SCALABLE project where
the STEEP teams and INRAE (Lessem Lab) are involved. She explored data sources related to water and
labor used by the French agriculture sector. Regarding water, irrigation needs (blue water) were assessed
based on plant needs and rainfall (under the current climate and a 2050 climate scenario). It emphasizes
the role seasonality plays to account for water needs. Regarding labour time, bottom-up approaches
(based on data from the Chambres d’Agriculture) were compared with top-down approches (based on
EXIOBASE environmental and social extensions) and show a large uncertainty range.

8.7 Numerical tools for data and parameter reconciliation

Participants:

Alexandre Borthomieu, Jean-Yves Courtonne, Vincent Jost, Guil-
laume Mandil, Mathieu Mangeot, Olivier Mauviel, Peter Sturm.

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Data reconciliation is an important building block for MFA (material flow analysis) and other prob-
lems with a similar structure, such as in chemical plant modeling. The goal is to construct a consistent
representation of, for instance, an economic supply chain or a set of processes (production processes,
chemical ones, etc.) that are related through flows (of materials, substances, goods, etc.). This representa-
tion usually has a graph structure and numerical values to be determined usually concern the mentioned
flows as well as technical coefficients characterizing the processes. These values are determined from
data, which are often only partially available, subject to uncertainties, and incoherent. The data recon-
ciliation problem entails the estimation of coherent numerical values from such data, using constraints,
such as mass preservation, aggregation constraints, or others that might be available (such as known
inequalities between certain values). Data reconciliation can be followed up by an estimation of the
values’ uncertainty. In our applications, uncertainties are usually represented by uncertainty intervals.
The above mentioned constraints often allow to narrow down given uncertainty intervals – we speak
of “interval reduction” here [26]. This year we have developed several methods for interval reduction.
We also set up a benchmark for the interval reduction problem, including test data, ground truth and
visualization methods (see Section 7.1.4).

Data reconciliation is used in representing an observed supply chain or other set of interrelated
processes. STEEP also aims at developing tools to conceive, model and assess potential socio-technical
alternatives (STA’s), e.g. for territorial prospective exercises. When modeling STA’s, reconciliation problems
also appear, but they are of a different nature. The construction of an STA relies on choosing involved
processes (such as transformation processes in agro-food chains or industrial production processes) and
connect them according to the material or other flows they are related through. Now, for any given type of
production, several alternative processes may be available (such as organic and conventional agriculture)
and it is natural for a user to think of an STA in terms of relative shares between such alternative processes.
Obviously, when defining desired shares for different sets of alternatives processes, the induced flows
among all them are in general not coherent. This creates the need of a new reconciliation problem:
instead of operating on flow values, it operates on the mentioned relative shares. We speak of parameter
reconciliation [32]. We have developed and compared two mathematical formulations for parameter
reconciliation (differing in the type of cost function used) and started to develop a software on top of
them that shall enable interactive construction of STA’s (STA-Explorer, see Section 7.1.2).

8.8 Serious games for the exploration and analysis of sociotechnical alternatives

Participants: Mathilde Boissier, Jean-Yves Courtonne, Ariane Dauvergne, Nils Fer-
rand, Vincent Jost, Achraf Kerzazi, Emmanuel Krieger, Math-
ieu Mangeot, Roger Pissard, Peter Sturm.

Accounting in biophysical flows is one grid of analysis providing insights on the sustainability of socio-
technical alternatives. These tools are indeed relevant to highlight systemic effects (interdisciplinary
understandings, spatial and temporal scales) on resources and important pressures to consider for
the transformation of territories. Yet, this biophysical flow vision remains for expert use only, whereas
one of the challenges of transition territories is to involve the populations in participatory processes.
Among diverse participatory tools, serious games have long since proven their ability to sensitize to
sustainability issues, facilitate learning and support changes. We aim to develop several games to play
with material and energy flows while discussing the futur of their territories. This involves every stage of
modeling (capturing reality into a biophysical and governance model, making this model simple enough
to be played with, and bring back this model into the real world to collectively transform a territory’s
organization), game design as well as lab and field experiments. After developing two simple games in
2022 (see last year’s report and [25]), we have designed a modeling framework – TransKey – based on
social metabolism, see [24]. Software implementation of a TransKey simulation platform has started
this year (see Section 7.1.3), with the support of Roger Pissard and Laurence Boissieux from the Inria
Grenoble SED service. A first fully playable version of a single-user game has been completed (see Figure 7
for a screenshot). After internal tests, it was tested through user experiments based on a taylor-made
experimental protocol. These tests were carried out by the Floralis service of Université Grenoble Alpes in

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Inria Annual Report 2023

the last three months of 2023. The gathered experimental and qualitative data have started to be analyzed
at the time of writing of this report.

Another serious game was developed during the internship of Ariane Dauvergne [51]. Its goal is to
sensitize players to the role of economic and power relations in the growing environmental and social
crises.

Figure 7: Screenshot of the first game developed based on the TransKey framework.

8.9 Participatory exercises in territories

Participants: Mathilde Boissier,

Jean-Yves Courtonne, Nils Ferrand, Em-

manuel Krieger, Peter Sturm.

Since about 2021, we have started to work towards the creation of participatory exercises, to assist in
the face of transition challenges in territories. See [30] for a brief overview of our philosophy. We have
been working on two territories, as follows.

The first project is the PETR du Grand Briançonnais (Pôle d’Equilibre Territorial et Rural – Briançon-
nais, Ecrins et Guillestrois Queyras), a so-called intercommunalité (grouping of 3 communautés de
communes, comprising a total of 36 municipalities), located in the French Alps. This territory experiences
recurring conflicts around the construction of hydroelectric power stations in mountain rivers, usually
opposing energy producers, elected officials and NGO’s dedicated to nature preservation. On this back-
ground, the presidency of the PETR launched the initiative of a territory-wide participatory process, to be
steered by STEEP and Nils Ferrand’s group at INRAE, covering the issues of energy, biodiversity, water, and
territorial development. The year 2022 had seen the launch of the project with individual interviews and
first meetings to better understand the territorial context and initiate the participatory process. Simple
Sankey diagrams illustrating energy flows on the territory (created using the software described in Sec-
tion refbil-3723) had also been put to the test. In 2023, procedural work has been conducted to formalize
the project, helping the PETR to get funding from the Banque des Territoires (granted in the end of 2023).
Based on this funding, the PETR and Inria are currently setting up a formal collaboration agreement to
subtend the participatory exercise, expected to last throughout 2024 and 2025. In 2023, we have also
conducted workshops to make stakeholders organize the participation (PrePAR approach), guiding them
through a collective decision process about the next steps of the dialogue. A charter defining the common
objectives and groundrules is also in progress. This procedural step should end in the beginning of
2024, making way for scientific and dialogue workshops directly related to resource management. The
project has been presented to elected officials and other stakeholders of the territory, in November 2023,
see 10.3.5.

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Figure 8: The territory of the PETR du Grand Briançonnais (Pôle d’Equilibre Territorial et Rural – Bri-
ançonnais, Ecrins et Guillestrois Queyras).

The second territory is the greater Grenoble area and the perimeter of the programmed participative
process is the establishment of an interterritorial food plan (Projet Alimentaire inter-Territorial (PAiT) de
la grande région Grenobloise). Within the Scalable project (see Section 9.3.2), STEEP is involved both in
quantitative/analytical modeling and in the development of a participative approach. During 2023, two
workshops have been organized (one on the milk sector and the other on the large culture sector). During
these workshops, the results of the quantitative modeling realized thanks to surveys have been presented
and discussed to evaluate the sectors’ vulnerabilities and levers for action. This was also the opportunity
to mix different stakeholders (economic operators of the sectors and project managers for the territorial
collectivities). Finally, an additional aim was to get some insights about how the biophysical quantitative
models can support dialogue and transitions.

8.10 Research group "Contremodélisation"

Participants: Mathilde Boissier, Guillaume Mandil, Mathieu Mangeot,

Sophie Wahnich.

Created during the conference Archipel 2022, the group Contremodélisation focuses on modeling
and the social impact of models. Around 15 researchers meet up once a month to collectively open up a
critical and constructive space for questioning a model’s life cycle in its entirety (order, context and design
choices, use and impacts), right up to the very relevance of modeling. This group provides an opportunity
to share practices and analysis grids in order to build an inter- and trans-disciplinary framework for
putting modeling to the test. Finally, the aim is to involve the modeling community and society in this
critical work through practical, training and teaching activities.

9 Partnerships and cooperations

9.1 International initiatives

9.1.1 Participation in other International Programs

• Serge Fenet is involved in a collaboration with the University of Lausanne (UNIL), Department of
Ecology and Evolution (Jérôme Gippet) and the University of Helsinki, Organismal and Evolutionary
Biology Research Program (Charles Rocabert), working on the development of the MoRIS model of
propagation of invasive species.

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Inria Annual Report 2023

9.2 International research visitors

9.2.1 Visits to international teams

Research stays abroad

Léon Fauste

Visited institution: ICTA Lab (Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals), Universitat Autònoma de

Barcelona

Country: Spain

Dates: 3 weeks in June 2023

Context of the visit: Léon worked under the supervision of Mario Giampietro and Raúl Velasco-Fernández
on a model to help determine what level of food autonomy is reachable for a given territory and,
conversely, what is the smallest scale where a given autonomy can be reached.

Mobility program/type of mobility: Research stay

Enzo Baquet

Visited institution: Unisanté, Université de Lausanne

Country: Switzerland

Dates: September 2023 to February 2024

Context of the visit: This visit is done in the context of the research on systemic risks on the health sector,

cf. Section 8.1.3.

Mobility program/type of mobility: Research stay

9.3 National initiatives

9.3.1 LINDDA – Living INfrastructure to Design responsible Digital technology for Agroecological

transition

Participants: Mathilde Boissier,

Jean-Yves Courtonne, Nils Ferrand, Guil-

laume Mandil, Mathieu Mangeot, Peter Sturm.

Project funded by PEPR program

Duration: 2022-2027 (5 years)
Coordinator: Muriel Mambrini (Learning Planet Institute), Peter Sturm for Inria partner.
Partners: Learning Planet Institute, CY School of Design, STEEP, Conservatoire National des Arts et
Métiers, ITAP/Inrae, G-EAU/Inrae.
Keywords: agroecology, design, transition, participation.
Abstract: The project is part of a program on Agroecology and Digital. It will subtend our work on
participation in the STA axis (Section 3.2) and will provide the opportunity to collaborate with experts in
Design (for games, interfaces, intermediation). Further, the project will give us access to student groups
for field work.

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9.3.2 SCALABLE – Metabolism of agricultural biomass: multi-scale representations, vulnerability

analysis and evaluation by local stakeholders

Participants: Mathilde Boissier, Jean-Yves Courtonne, Nils Ferrand, Sophie Madel-

rieux, Guillaume Mandil.

Project funded by ADEME
Duration: 2021-2024 (36 months)
Coordinator: Sophie Madelrieux (Inrae Grenoble), Jean-Yves Courtonne for Inria partner.
Partners: LESSEM (Inrae Grenoble), Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Énergie Environnement, TerriFlux, Parc
Naturel Régional de Chartreuse, STEEP (Inria Grenoble).
Keywords: agriculture value chains, multi-scale analysis, multicriteria analysis, vulnerabilities, participat-
ive evaluation.
Abstract: SCALABLE focuses on agricultural biomass, on the different transformation steps (supply chain)
from production to consumption, at several geographical scales (national, regional, local). The projects
aims at improving knowledge on material and organizational vulnerabilities of territories with respect to
these supply chains: to what extent are the needs of the local population satisfied in a sustainable way,
and without transferring vulnerabilities to other territories? This work will be conducted by coupling
an analytical approach (use of descriptive models) with a deliberative approach (evaluation by local
stakeholders). It will also lay a basis for assessing the relevant scales of relocation of the different sectors
of the value chains.

9.3.3 TRAJECLIM – Resilience of a polar socio-ecosystem facing anthropic and climate change

Participants:

Serge Fenet.

Project funded by CNRS
Duration: 2021-2023 (14 months)
Coordinator: Roman Teisserenc (Laboratoire Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Environnement, UMR5245),
Serge Fenet for Inria partner.
Partners: UMR5503 (INP, Toulouse), UMR5245 (Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse), UMR8212 (Gif-
sur-Yvette), EA3816 (FoReLLIS, Poitiers), EA827 (Laboratoire d’Études et de Recherches Appliquées en
Sciences Sociales, Toulouse), STEEP (Inria Grenoble).
Keywords: island model, systemic approach, résilience, systemic levers, storytelling.
Abstract: As a polar city of 5000 inhabitants created ex-nihilo in 1929, Igarka is a small urban island in the
middle of Siberia that suffers from climate change, social decline (-75% of inhabitants), and industrial
decline (linked to the cessation of forest exploitation at the end of the 20th century). However, the
accounts of the inhabitants talk about both optimism and resilience in the face of these global trajectory
bifurcations, mainly forced by the climatic repercussions of human activities, and by political context.
Thus, in a sense, Igarka can be considered as a herald for our own territories and societies confronted to
the current global changes. Preparing a Horizon Europe project, TRAJECLIM project wants to initiate
an interdisciplinary analysis of Igarka’s trajectory and its observed resilience, using multiple systemic
approaches. It will rely on the study of the biogeochemical carbon and contaminants cycles, as well
as indigenous, historical, literary and artistic narratives from the city inhabitants. It will produce a
meta-analysis of the dynamics and bifurcation points the city had to deal with, as well as an inventory of
the levers and tools of resilience invented by the population in the face of climate change.

9.3.4 SysPart – Participatory research into the use and impact of material flow models for forecasting

the challenges of territorial transitions

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Inria Annual Report 2023

Participants: Mathilde Boissier,

Jean-Yves Courtonne, Nils Ferrand, Math-

ieu Mangeot, Sophie Wahnich.

Project funded by CNRS MITI (Mission for Transversal and Interdisciplinary Initiatives)

Duration: 2022-2023
Partners: Universite‘ Savoie Mont Blanc (Myriam Donsimoni).
Keywords: participation, material flow analysis, prospective, transition.
Abstract: This project subtended some of the research activities described in Sections 8.8 and 8.9.

9.3.5 BACCFIRE

Participants:

Jean-Yves Courtonne.

Project funded by Ademe

Duration: 2022-2024
Partners: ONF, FCBA, INRAE, IGN and TerriFlux.
Keywords: Forestry and timber sector, storage, sequestration, substitution, material flow analysis, life
cycle analysis.
Abstract: The goal is to better assess what role the forest-wood supply chain can play for climate mitiga-
tion.

10 Dissemination

10.1 Promoting scientific activities

10.1.1 Scientific events: organisation

Exergy Economics Workshop We co-organized, together with Paul Brockway of Leeds University, the
7th edition of the International Exergy Economics Workshop (IEEW2023), which was held from 10–12 July
2023 in Challes-les-Eaux, France. Over 40 researchers, mostly from Europe and the USA, met over 3 days
to discuss the state and future of the research field of exergy economics, and its application to important
topics including energy and material constraints, economic growth and policy.

Peter Sturm and Louis Delannoy were in charge of the local organization and Louis Delannoy parti-

cipated to the programme committee.

In december 2023,
Winter School on Sustainability Modeling of Complex Agroecological Systems
we co-organized, together with Elisa Hittner and Sophie Madelrieux from INRAE, a winter school on
Sustainability Modeling of Complex Agroecological Systems: Challenges and Alternatives to Current
Approaches. The instructors were Mario Giampietro and Ansel Renner from Universitat Autònoma de
Barcelona. The event, held in Grenoble, lasted 3 days and was attended by 20 participants, about two
thirds of which were PhD students or post-docs.

Member of organizing committees

• Emmanuel Prados was a member of the organizing committee for the "Entreprendre dans l’anthro-
pocène: Agir, travailler, entreprendre dans un monde en transition" days, organized on 29 and 30
March 2023 in Grenoble by the UGA Design Factory. See also this website.

Member of conference program committees

• Organized by STEEP in June 2022, the Archipel conference "Systemic Risks, Trajectories and Levers
for Action" was a first step towards building a transdisciplinary scientific collective that would

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bring to the fore questions, salient points, frameworks of thought, methods and tools for tackling
current systemic risks, and more generally the futures of our societies. The second edition of the
conference is scheduled for April 2024, but in order to maintain the initial momentum, the 2022
and 2024 program committees have proposed an intermediate meeting in June 2023 in Lyon. The
purpose of these days was to help the working groups set up in 2022 to make progress in their
collective work, and to present to the community the work already carried out during this first year.
Serge Fenet, Emmanuel Prados and Sophie Wahnich took part in the programme committee.

10.1.2 Journals

Reviewer - reviewing activities

• Jean-Yves Courtonne was a reviewer for the following journals: Forest Ecosystems, Frontiers in

Nutrition.

10.1.3 Invited talks

• Nils Ferrand gave an invited seminar at United Nations University, Macao, on Modeling for Change,

Cross-Ethics and Stakeholders, 16 June 2023.

• Nils Ferrand gave an invited talk on "Exploring the design of participatory and transformative
research, and research on participatory transformation" [59] at a workshop on Transformative
Research at Australian National University, Canberra.

• Nils Ferrand gave a presentation on "Processus participatifs et engagement des chercheurs dans

l’Appui aux Politiques Publiques dans les territoires" [58], INRAE, March 2023.

• Nils Ferrand gave a presentation on Processus décisionnels mobilisant des modèles de métabolisme
dans le secteur forêts-bois at a seminar organized by Des Hommes et Des Arbres, Nancy, December
2023.

• Nils Ferrand gave a presentation on "Innovative pathways for an efficient co-design and extension
of socio-environmental change between scientists and. . . others” [57] at the advanced training
course on “Science-Policy Interface”, Ghent University, December 2023.

• Peter Sturm gave an invited talk on "Rebound effects, efficiency, frugality, resilience: The import-
ance of the questions one asks" at the Journées plénières du GdR IG-RV (Informatique Géométrique
et Graphique, Réalité Virtuelle et Visualisation), Lyon, 2023.

• Peter Sturm (with Didier Mallarino) gave the opening address to the Doctoriades of Toulon Univer-

sity, December 2023.

• Peter Sturm participated to the round table "Which place for AI in the ecological transition?", held
during the Journées de Recherche en Apprentissage Frugal, Grenoble, France, December 2023.

• Peter Sturm gave a presentation of the Framework Convention between Inria and the French
Ministry of Culture at the workshop Art&Science as a research enabler, CEA, Grenoble, France,
November 2023.

• Peter Sturm gave a keynote on "A historical survey of geometric computer vision" at the Journées

Jeunes Chercheurs ORASIS, Carqueiranne, France, May 2023.

• Jean-Yves Courtonne gave a presentation on Material Flow Analysis methods and tools at the EVS

Lab, Lyon, December 2023.

• Jean-Yves Courtonne gave a presentation on the stakes of the Anthropocene during the opening

meeting of the CRAT-R project (Ideas Laboratory, CEA Grenoble), online, March 2023.

• Jean-Yves Courtonne gave a presentation on the STEEP team research program at the annual

seminar of the DILS LAB (CEA-List), online, April 2023.

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Inria Annual Report 2023

• Emmanuel Prados took part in the round table entitled "Organization of degrowth: what are we
talking about?" organized by Grenoble INP - ENSE3 in conjunction with the PISTE training course
"For a Sober Techno and Eco-Responsible Engineering" on 19 January 2023. This round-table
discussion featured 3 speakers who are experts in degrowth from different perspectives (economic,
social, philosophical, hard sciences, etc.)

• Emmanuel Prados was invited to speak at the seminar on nuclear disarmament organized by ICAN

on 14 March 2023, in the session "Penser l’effondrement" ("Thinking about collapse").

• Emmanuel Prados was invited to lead a workshop as part of the seminar "Agir, travailler, entrepren-
dre dans un monde en transition" ("Acting, working, undertaking in a world in transition") which
took place on 29 and 30 March 2023 at the University of Grenoble.

• Emmanuel Prados has been invited to give a lecture and workshop on "Understanding the coming
collapse: causes, consequences and room for manoeuvre" on 14 December 2023 at the University
of Strasbourg as part of the lecture series "Se (re)construire dans un monde numérique: Penser les
crises à venir et défis futurs".

• Pierre-Yves Longaretti was invited to give a seminar on "Frugality and rebound effects. Challenges,

lock-ins, leverages." Labos1point5, January 10, 2023. .

• Pierre-Yves Longaretti has given an invited seminar in the ethics seminar program of IRMAR.

"Sobriété. Enjeux, blocages, leviers." INSA and Rennes University, 10 novembre 2023.

10.1.4 Leadership within the scientific community

• Emmanuel Prados, Sophie Wahnich and Mathieu Mangeot have led and/or facilitated working

groups as part of the Archipel community:

– The "Sociotechnical alternatives in a perspective of radical transformation" group.

– The "Draft Charter for the Archipel Community" group, which led to the drafting of the

Archipel Community Charter.

10.1.5 Scientific expertise

• Formation à la transition écologique. Pierre-Yves Longaretti is member of the Rhône-Alpes scientific
committee in charge of organizing training courses for all French public service executives, an
initiative of the French government. Jean-Yves Courtonne, Pierre-Yves Long and Guillaume Mandil
are part of the team of scientists who will be giving these training courses, which should cover
at a basic level a panel of environmental issues, with a focus on climate change, resources and
biodiversity.

• Emmanuel Prados and Jean-Yves Courtonne are members of the scientific committee of the city of

Grenoble.

• Jean-Yves Courtonne is a member of the Steering Committee (COPIL) of the Terristory consortium.

• Pierre-Yves Longaretti is member of the scientific committee of the Idée project (Innovation et

Développement pour une Economie Environnementale, Grand Annecy)

• Guillaume Mandil is member of the scientific committe of the Parc Naturel Régional de Chartreuse

since September 2020.

• Peter Sturm is member of the Steering Committee (COTECH) of Atelier des Futurs (see Section 8.1.4).

• Peter Sturm was member of the selection comittee for a Junior Professorship at INSA Lyon.

• Peter Sturm acted as expert for professorship promotions, The University of Hong Kong.

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10.1.6 Research administration

• Nils Ferrand is member of the steering group of the Projet Prioritaire International Forêts, INRAE.

• Emmanuel Prados and Guillaume Mandil are members of the Campus D’Après initiative: a cross-
disciplinary collective of academic researchers of the grenoble area who share a common goal: to
better understand and reduce the direct and indirect environmental impact of research.

• Peter Sturm is member of the direction of Laboratoire Jean Kuntzmann since 2023.

• Jean-Yves Courtonne represents Inria at the Council of UFR IM2AG (Teaching Department Inform-

atique, mathématiques et mathématiques appliquées of Université Grenoble Alpes).

10.2 Teaching - Supervision - Juries

10.2.1 Teaching

The Anthropocene FACTS project, initiated in 2020, has been paused in 2023, but its main objectives and
activities have been taken over by the Design Factory department at UGA, where Guillaume Mandil, the
principal STEEP contributor to Anthropocene FACTS, is involved. These activities include, in particular,
the introduction of undergraduate-level teaching on ecological transition and sustainable development
(TEDS) accessible to all UGA undergraduate courses, as well as a "train the trainer" program for teachers
(from UGA and other universities in France).

• Denis Dupré, Serge Fenet, Guillaume Mandil, and Mathieu Mangeot have regular teaching duties

at the universities employing them.

• Jean-Yves Courtonne, Serge Fenet, Guillaume Mandil, Emmanuel Prados, and Peter Sturm: Les
véritables enjeux environnementaux – compréhension, modélisations et outils quantitatifs, 30
hours, course plus project work, Master course, Ecole Centrale de Marseille.

• Jean-Yves Courtonne, Serge Fenet, Pierre-Yves Longaretti, Guillaume Mandil, Emmanuel Prados,
and Peter Sturm: Les véritables enjeux environnementaux – compréhension, modélisations et
outils quantitatifs, 24 hours course plus project work, MSTII Graduate School and L3 Computer
science, UGA.

• Denis Dupré, Jean-Yves Courtonne, Guillaume Mandil: Science, Environnement, Société, Doctoral

School (CED) UGA.

• Jean-Yves Courtonne : modélisation quantitative et analyse de flux de matière, 10 hours of tutoring

for Master 1 students, IDDAT (IUGA, UGA).

• Jean-Yves Courtonne : intérêts composés et croissance exponentielle, 20 hours of courses and

tutoring for Master 1 students, MIAGE (IM2AG, UGA).

• Peter Sturm, Emmanuel Prados, Jean-Yves Courtonne : évaluation environnementale et blocages à
l’action, 24 hours of courses and tutoring for post-master students, TEET (ENSE3, Grenoble INP).

• Pierre-Yves Longaretti, "Changements globaux, limites planétaires, risques globaux". 6h lecture
in the first year course "Enjeux energie, climat et ordre de grandeurs et analyse dimensionnelle"
PHY208, UGA.

• Pierre-Yves Longaretti, "Réduction des impacts environnementaux: sobriété, croissance, dé-

couplage, effets rebond". 2h lecture at INSA Rennes (November 2023)

• Nils ferrand, Master course on Transition Design (UGA, 18h)

• Nils Ferrand, UN university course on participatory processes, United Nations University, Macao,

4h.

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Inria Annual Report 2023

10.2.2 Supervision

• PhD defended this year: Louis Delannoy, "An exploration of the systemic risks emerging from the
interaction between energy, finance and the economy", supervised by Pierre-Yves Longaretti and
Emmanuel Prados. Defended on 14 September, 2023.

• PhD abandoned this year: Olivier Mauviel, "Méthodologie de conception d’alternatives socio-

techniques", supervised by Peter Sturm, Jean-Yves Courtonne, Guillaume Mandil.

• PhD in progress: Enzo Baquet, "Analyse de la dynamique de propagation des perturbations intra et
inter-sectorielle dans le contexte de crises à court terme", supervised by Serge Fenet, Pierre-Yves
Longaretti, and Mathieu Mangeot.

• PhD in progress: Antonin Berthe, "Etude de la faisabilité de la transition énergétique. Modélisation
des couplages énergie-matière.", supervised by Pierre-Yves Longaretti, Emmanuel Prados, Olivier
Vidal (ISTerre).

• PhD in progress: Alexandre Borthomieu, "Méthodologie de description d’évaluation multicritère
d’alternatives socio-techniques", supervised by Peter Sturm, Jean-Yves Courtonne, Vincent Jost
(G-SCOP), Guillaume Mandil.

• PhD in progress: Albert Bouffange, "Penser les contractions matérielles pour la France en liant
économie politique et flux de matière et d’énergie", supervised by Agnès Labrousse (Sciences-Po
Lyon), Emmanuel Prados, and Pierre-Yves Longaretti.

• PhD in progress: Quentin Desvaux, "Re-conception de systèmes de production durables et ter-
ritorialisés - apports croisés de l’écologie territoriale et de l’économie politique", supervised by
Catherine Figuière (CREG), Guillaume Mandil, Jean-Yves Courtonne.

• PhD in progress: Léon Fauste, "Relocalisation d’industrie productive : une approche par les graphes
et les contraintes", supervised by Christine Solnon (Lyon University), Mathieu Mangeot, and Jean-
Yves Courtonne.

• PhD in progress: Jérémie Klein, "Outils numériques de modélisation fonctionnelle pour l’aide à
la décision dans l’évaluation des transitions sous contraintes", supervised by Guillaume Mandil,
Jean-Yves Courtonne, Peter Sturm, and Bernard Tourancheau (LIG).

• PhD in progress: Emmanuel Krieger, "Modélisation socio-technique de territoires : modèles
numériques et jeux sérieux", supervised by Peter Sturm, Nils Ferrand, and Jean-Yves Courtonne.

• PhD in progress: Damien Rieutor, "Implémentation locale du concept des ‘Limites Planétaires’.
Méthodologie de transposition territoriale des spécificités du concept de Limites Planétaires pour
évaluer la criticité environnementale locale", supervised by Guillaume Mandil, Gwendoline de
Oliveira Neves (Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain).

Sophie Wahnich (co-)supervises several PhD theses outside of STEEP, one being related to our consid-

erations on territorial issues: Karla Candeia, "Le mouvement des sans terre au Bresil", EHESS.

10.2.3 Juries

• Peter Sturm was reviewer of the PhD thesis of Torben Fetzer (University of Kaiserslautern-Landau,

Germany).

• Peter Sturm is member of the Comité de thèse of Rémi Mourgues (Inria / GIPSA-Lab).

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10.3 Popularization

10.3.1 Conference-debate series and YouTube-channel “Understanding and Acting”

In view of the global issues described in Section 2.1, we initiated in 2016 a series of conference-debates
entitled “Understanding and Acting” (Comprendre et Agir) that examines these issues in order to help
researchers and citizens to increase their awareness of the various issues at stake in order to initiate
relevant individual and collective actions. From now on, the scientific community at large must realize
that its duty also lies in helping citizens to better understand these issues. If the fraction of people in
society whose privilege is to be paid to think about society’s problems do not seize this opportunity in the
critical times we face, who will? Researchers must become more involved in the search of socioeconomic
alternatives and help citizens to implement them. The interactions between researchers and citizens
have also to be reinvented.

Presentations typically last between 45 to 60 minutes; they are followed by a 45 minute public debate
with the audience. The presentations are captured on video and then made directly accessible on the
YouTube channel Comprendre et Agir. As of January 2024 the channel has about 11,200 subscribers and
reached a total of over 936,000 viewings.

In 2023, we had the following conference-debates.

• Gabrielle Bouleau (LISIS/INRAE), Motifs de science, 17 january 2023.

• Florence Jany-Catrice (CLERSE-CNRS, Lille), Inflation, croissance, découplage : Quels enjeux

politiques et techniques ?, 2 may 2023.

• Sophie Wahnich (STEEP and PACTE), La Démocratie est-elle un mythe ?, 25 may 2023.

10.3.2 “Faire face, Face cinéma” series

The STEEP team co-organizes with the Design Factory of Université Grenoble Alpes and the PACTE
laboratory a series of screenings of documentaries or films dedicated to social-environmental issues
called "Faire face, Face cinéma". The screenings are followed by a debate between the director (except
in exceptional cases), the organizers and the public. This cycle is supported and animated in particular
by Sophie Wahnich (STEEP) and Anne Delaballe (UGA Design Factory). In 2023, the following films
and documentaries were screened: Athenian material (Laure Vermeersch), Les voies jaunes (Sylvestre
Meinzer), and Brazil (Terry Gilliam).

10.3.3 Articles and contents

• Louis Delannoy co-authored the article Une économie de guerre sera-t-elle nécessaire pour re-

specter l’Accord de Paris sur le climat ?, published in The Conversation [54].

10.3.4 Education

Systemic Risk Fresco. Systemic risks emerge from interactions within a system in which vulnerabilities
are present. If elements of a system are sensitive and sufficiently intertwined, disrupting one or several of
them can spread over the whole system, triggering chain reactions and feedback. Systemic thinking is
not straightforward [83]. Courses in education are often specialized, focusing on one or few themes or
objects. Students often go from one subject to the other, without linking them. “All other things being
equal” type reasoning then implicitly arises. This kind of reasoning is consequently blind to interactions
with – and vulnerabilities to – changes in other elements of a system.

Studying Global Systemic Risks logically implies systemic thinking. Four PhD students of the team
(Alexandre Borthomieu, Antonin Berthe, Léon Fauste, and Mathilde Jochaud du Plessix) created a game
to vulgarize this kind of thinking. The Global Systemic Risks fresco (Fresque des risques systémiques
globaux) is a serious game aimed at broadening the understanding of this aspect. It enables participants
to explore interactions within a system and the spreading of disruptions. The game is a visual and spatial
representation of the core elements of western societies.

A session takes place in three stages: (i) the construction of the fresco, (ii) the exploration of break-
through scenarios and (iii) a time of “return to reality”. In the first stage, participants are invited to

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Inria Annual Report 2023

construct a map of elements they consider important for society; they are guided to first think about
primary needs, then means to answer such needs (such as education or a construction sector) and
finally, “sectors” allowing to realize these means (energy and materials, finance and geopolitics, “the
environment”). Links between all these elements represent dependencies (see Figure 9 for a sample
outcome).

Figure 9: Structure designed by a group after phase I of the Systemic Risk Fresco workshop.

In the second stage, the thus established map allows to explore scenarios and questions such as how
disruptions in one of the elements are links can spread through the system. The goal is to foster insight
in the systemic nature of our socio-ecological system and to encourage participants to think about our
needs in a new way, adapted to a degraded environment, and then eventually to create or imagine more
resilient alternatives. As these topics are sources of discomfort and strong emotions, a workshop ends
with a third stage, to share feedback on what they have just experienced, as well as a time for sharing
emotions, which we believe is now essential for any research or knowledge creation around social and
environmental issues that affect each person in different ways. Moreover, we believe that this time allows
participants to be accompanied in the “return to reality” and to limit the feeling of powerlessness.

The Global Systemic Risks fresco has been employed in various workshops with different types of
audience (scientists, students, general public) and we use it now routinely in several courses at university.
It has also been demonstrated to members of the public authorities involved in the l’Atelier des Futurs
initiative (Section 8.1.4), as an input to the preparation of the Local Risk Report for the Grenoble area.

For more details on the fresco, please refer to this report.

10.3.5 Interventions

• Nils Ferrand, Emmanuel Krieger and Peter Sturm showcased our emerging project on an energy –
water – biodiversity dialogue in the Briançon area (see Section 8.9) at the Conférence des Maires
of the PETR du Grand Briançonnais, on 17 november 2023, through an oral presentation and a
booth. The audience consisted of elected officials (municipal, departmental) as well as employees
of public services of the territory.

• Pierre-Yves Longaretti has been invited for a conference and public debate on "Frugality and

rebound effects". Fête des possibles, Saint-Etienne, 28 septembre 2023.

• Several team members presented the system risks fresco at the 2023 edition of “Fête de la Science”,

see here.

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• Albert Bouffange gave an interview on shortcomings in the computation of GNP. 20 december 2023,

on Radio Anthropocène (Lyon).

• Antonin Berthe was the invited researcher in the May 15 episode of the series "Vie de chercheur•e•s"
on the twitch channel Chercheur•e•s de montagne. This series aims at popularizing research topics
and at discussing with PhD students on their life within research labs and as PhD students in
general.

• Mathilde Boissier gave an interview on Radio Imagine Briançon, 25 october 2023, to present the

participatory project done with the PETR du Grand Briançonnais (see Section 8.9).

• Louis Delannoy gave an interview on Une ‘économie de guerre’ pour sauver le climat on the youtube

channel PlanB.

• The work of Louis Delannoy on the EROI of fossil energy sources was cited several times in the
episode Taux de retour énergétique : J.M. Jancovici dans l’erreur ? of the youtube channel Le
Réveilleur.

The following interventions were linked to this year’s publication of the book “World3 et le rapport
Meadows, les limites à la croissance – Question raisonnées pour aujourd’hui” [33] we coordinated (see
Section 6.1):

• Sophie Wahnich, with Renaud Bécot (Laboratoire Pacte) and Hugo Le Boulzec (Gael/CNRS) anim-
ated a session at the 2023 edition of “Fête de la Science”, on Les limites à la croissance : l’histoire
sans fin: The limits to growth: the never-ending story. The aim was to discuss economic growth,
environmental impacts and the incompatibility with the planet’s diminishing resources.

• Emmanuel Prados, Sophie Wahnich, Serge Fenet, Pierre-Yves Longaretti and Guillaume Mandil
took part in an "arts et sciences ambulation", on 16 November 2023 at the Université Grenoble
Alpes to introduce the Meadows report on the limits to growth and as authors of the book [33]
celebrating 50 years of the Meadows report. At this event, were also shown reproductions from the
series entitled "à vos souhaits" by artist Anaïs Beaulieu that were used as illustrations in the book.

• Pierre-Yves Longaretti and Sophie Wahnich have been invited for a presentation followed by a

debate around the book. Bookstore "Compagnie", Paris, 18 october 2023.

11 Scientific production

11.1 Major publications

[1] M. Bevione, N. Buclet, J.-Y. Courtonne and P.-Y. Longaretti. ‘Socio-ecological transition, wealth
creation and territorial metabolism: the case of the production of the AOC-labelled cheese Beaufort
in the Maurienne Valley’. In: ESEE 2019 - 13th International Conference of the European Society for
Ecological Economics. Turku, Finland, June 2019, pp. 1–4. URL: https://hal.inria.fr/hal-024
30879.

[2] T. Capelle, P. Sturm, A. Vidard and B. Morton. ‘Calibration of the Tranus Land Use Module: Optimisation-
Based Algorithms, their Validation, and Parameter Selection by Statistical Model Selection’. In:
Computers, Environment and Urban Systems 77 (Sept. 2019), 101146:1–13. DOI: 10.1016/j.compe
nvurbsys.2017.04.009. URL: https://hal.inria.fr/hal-01519654.

[3]

[4]

J.-Y. Courtonne, J. Alapetite, P.-Y. Longaretti, D. Dupré and E. Prados. ‘Downscaling material flow
analysis: The case of the cereal supply chain in France’. In: Ecological Economics 118 (Oct. 2015),
pp. 67–80. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2015.07.007. URL: https://hal.archives-ouvertes
.fr/halshs-01321742.

J.-Y. Courtonne, J. Alapetite, V. Wawrzyiak and M. Bevione. ‘The AF Filières project: application of
PSUT frameworks for regional analyses of agriculture and forestry supply chains and footprints
in France’. In: ESEE 2019 - 13th International Conference of the European Society for Ecological
Economics. Turku, Finland, June 2019, pp. 1–4. URL: https://hal.inria.fr/hal-02430898.

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[5]

Inria Annual Report 2023

J.-Y. Courtonne, P.-Y. Longaretti, J. Alapetite and D. Dupré. ‘Environmental Pressures Embodied in
the French Cereals Supply Chain’. In: Journal of Industrial Ecology 20.3 (2016), pp. 423–434. DOI:
10.1111/jiec.12431. URL: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01150067.

[6] L. Delannoy, P.-Y. Longaretti, D. Murphy and E. Prados. ‘Assessing Global Long-Term EROI of Gas:
A Net-Energy Perspective on the Energy Transition’. In: Energies 14.16 (Aug. 2021), p. 5112. DOI:
10.3390/en14165112. URL: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03322866.

[7] L. Delannoy, P.-Y. Longaretti, D. Murphy and E. Prados. ‘Peak oil and the low-carbon energy
transition: A net-energy perspective’. In: Applied Energy 304 (Dec. 2021), pp. 1–17. DOI: 10.1016/j
.apenergy.2021.117843. URL: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03360253.

[8] L. Gervasoni, M. Bosch, S. Fenet and P. Sturm. ‘A framework for evaluating urban land use mix from
crowd-sourcing data’. In: 2nd International Workshop on Big Data for Sustainable Development.
Washington DC, United States: IEEE, Dec. 2016, pp. 2147–2156. DOI: 10.1109/BigData.2016.78
40844. URL: https://hal.inria.fr/hal-01396792.

[9]

J. Lenglet, J.-Y. Courtonne and S. Caurla. ‘Material flow analysis of the forest-wood supply chain: A
consequential approach for log export policies in France’. In: Journal of Cleaner Production 165
(Aug. 2017), pp. 1296–1305. DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.07.177. URL: https://hal.archi
ves-ouvertes.fr/hal-01612454.

[10] E. Prados, P. Criqui and C. Ilasca. ‘A Benchmarking Tool for the International Climate Negotiations’.
In: AAAI-15 Special Track on Computational Sustainability. Austin, United States: AAAI, Jan. 2015,
pp. 95–100. URL: https://hal.inria.fr/hal-01101210.

[11] C. Rocabert, S. Fenet, B. Kaufmann and J. Gippet. ‘Accounting for the topology of road networks to
better explain human-mediated dispersal in terrestrial landscapes’. In: Ecography (12th Dec. 2023).
DOI: 10.1111/ecog.07068. URL: https://hal.science/hal-04449314.

[12] Z. Steep, S. Wahnich and L. Delannoy. Les limites à la croissance.Meadows : questions raisonnées.

Voix publiques. excès, 10th Oct. 2023. URL: https://hal.science/hal-04360218.

[13] C. Vannier, A. Bierry, P.-Y. Longaretti, B. Nettier, T. Cordonnier, C. Chauvin, N. Bertrand, F. Quetier,
R. Lasseur and S. Lavorel. ‘Co-constructing future land-use scenarios for the Grenoble region,
France’. In: Landscape and Urban Planning 190 (2019), p. 103614. DOI: 10.1016/j.landurbplan
.2019.103614. URL: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02405231.

[14] C. Vannier, R. Lasseur, E. Crouzat, C. Byczek, V. Lafond, T. Cordonnier, P.-Y. Longaretti and S. Lavorel.
‘Mapping ecosystem services bundles in a heterogeneous mountain region’. In: Ecosystems and
People 15.1 (Feb. 2019), pp. 74–88. DOI: 10.1080/26395916.2019.1570971. URL: https://hal
.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02404663.

11.2 Publications of the year

International journals

[15] L. Delannoy, E. Aramendia, P.-Y. Longaretti and E. Prados. ‘Évolution historique et tendancielle
de l’EROI du pétrole et du gaz’. In: Annales des mines - Série Responsabilité et environnement (July
2023), pp. 1–12. URL: https://hal.science/hal-04262020.

[16] L. Delannoy, M. Auzanneau, B. Andrieu, O. Vidal, P.-Y. Longaretti, E. Prados, D. J. Murphy, R. W.
Bentley, M. Carbajales-Dale, M. Raugei, M. Höök, V. Court, C. W. King, F. Fizaine, P. Jacques, M. K.
Heun, A. Jackson, C. Guay-Boutet, E. Aramendia, J. Wang, H. Le Boulzec and C. A. Hall. ‘Emerging
consensus on net energy paves the way for improved integrated assessment modeling’. In: Energy
& Environmental Science 17.1 (2024), pp. 11–26. DOI: 10.1039/D3EE00772C. URL: https://hal
.science/hal-04328785.

[17] L. Delannoy, A. Palle, N. Rebière and B. Andrieu. ‘“Strong” transdisciplinarity in the Anthropocene:
lessons from a cross dialogue between social and modeling sciences’. In: Hérodote - Revue de
géographie et de géopolitique N°188.1 (23rd Mar. 2023), pp. 41–52. DOI: 10.3917/her.188.0041.
URL: https://hal.science/hal-04087637.

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[18] P. Jacques, L. Delannoy, B. Andrieu, D. Yilmaz, H. Jeanmart and A. Godin. ‘Assessing the economic
consequences of an energy transition through a biophysical stock-flow consistent model’. In:
Ecological Economics 209 (July 2023), p. 107832. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2023.107832. URL:
https://hal.science/hal-04087628.

[19]

S. S. Madelrieux, J.-Y. Courtonne, M. Grillot and S. Harchaoui. ‘Bioeconomy and circular economy:
critical reading and place of the livestock sectors’. In: INRAE Productions Animales 36.1 (5th May
2023), p. 7430. DOI: 10.20870/productions-animales.2023.36.1.7430. URL: https://hal
.inrae.fr/hal-04135588.

[20] F.-R. Mazy and P.-Y. Longaretti. ‘Towards a generic theoretical framework for pattern-based LUCC
modeling: Allocation revisited: Formal foundations and bias identification’. In: Environmental
Modelling and Software 166 (Aug. 2023), p. 105706. DOI: 10.1016/j.envsoft.2023.105706. URL:
https://hal.science/hal-04301075.

[21] H. Sharma, G. Mandil, É. Monnier, E. Cor and P. Zwolinski. ‘Sizing a hybrid hydrogen production
plant including life cycle assessment indicators by combining NSGA-III and principal component
analysis (PCA)’. In: Energy Conversion and Management: X 18 (Apr. 2023), p. 100361. DOI: 10.1016
/j.ecmx.2023.100361. URL: https://inria.hal.science/hal-03993455.

[22] S. Wahnich. ‘Indispensables émotions révolutionnaires’. In: Annales historiques de la Révolution

française (2023), pp. 1–8. URL: https://hal.science/hal-04364246.

[23] S. Wahnich. ‘Moi, la Révolution —Revolutionary Poetics in the Storm of Counterrevolutionary
Times’. In: Rethinking Marxism 35.3 (25th July 2023), pp. 363–377. DOI: 10.1080/08935696.2023
.2215145. URL: https://hal.science/hal-04365920.

International peer-reviewed conferences

[24] M. Boissier, N. Ferrand, E. Krieger, J.-Y. Courtonne and P. Sturm. ‘Playing with flows in transition
territories’. In: Nicolas Becu. Simulation and Gaming for Social and Environmental Transitions.:
Proceedings of the 54th Conference of the International Simulation and Gaming Association. 2023,
979-10-415-2760-1. 〈halshs-04209935〉. ISAGA 2023 - 54th edition of the International Simulation
and Gaming for Social and Environmental Transitions. La Rochelle, France, Sept. 2023. URL: https
://hal.science/hal-04231486.

[25] M. Boissier, M. Mangeot, V. Jost and L. Viénot. ‘Designing Serious Games to understand the chal-
lenges of the Anthropocene’. In: ICED 2023 proceedings. ICED 2023 - 24th International Conference
on Engineering Design. Bordeaux, France, 2023, pp. 1–2. URL: https://hal.science/hal-0397
5671.

[26] A. Borthomieu, J.-Y. Courtonne, V. Jost, E. Krieger, G. Mandil, M. Mangeot-Nagata and P. Sturm.
‘Exploration de l’Économie Française avec des Tables Emploi-Ressource en unités Biophysiques’.
In: ROADEF 2023 - 24ème congrès de la Société Française de Recherche Opérationnelle et d’Aide à
la Décision. Rennes, France, 2023, pp. 1–2. URL: https://hal.science/hal-04305015.

[27] N. Ferrand. ‘The World Saving Gamathon’. In: ISAGA 2023 - Simulation and Gaming for Social and
Environmental Transitions. La Rochelle, France, 19th Sept. 2023, pp. 1–46. URL: https://hal.inr
ae.fr/hal-04231626.

[28] V. Jost, M. Boissier, N. Ferrand and P. Sturm. ‘Les jeux sérieux et les jeux simples pour enseigner les
ressorts de l’anthropocène et de la transformation sociale’. In: ROADEF 2023 - 24ème congrès de la
Société Française de Recherche Opérationnelle et d’Aide à la Décision. Rennes (FR), France, 2023,
pp. 1–2. URL: https://hal.science/hal-04304973.

National peer-reviewed Conferences

[29] N. Ferrand, M. Boissier, W. Aquae-Gaudi and P. Sturm. ‘Comment opérationnaliser une éthique
de la modélisation pour la participation décisionnelle dans l’action publique ?’ In: ROADEF 2023 -
24ème édition du congrès annuel de la Société Française de Recherche Opérationnelle et d’Aide à
la Décision. Rennes, France, 2023, pp. 1–2. URL: https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-04233913.

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Inria Annual Report 2023

[30] N. Ferrand, M. Boissier, V. Combe, E. Krieger, P. Sturm and P. Leroy. ‘Usage et impact des modèles
de flux de matières et d’énergie dans des processus participatifs face aux enjeux de transition
dans les territoires’. In: 24ème édition du congrès annuel de la Société Française de Recherche
Opérationnelle et d’Aide à la Décision ROADEF 2023. Rennes, France, 20th Feb. 2023. URL: https:
//hal.inrae.fr/hal-04233928.

Conferences without proceedings

[31] N. Ferrand and W. Aquae-Gaudi. ‘Construire un projet d’APP autour de l’eau avec les acteurs:
Retour d’expérience autour de la co-conception des modalités d’engagement : méthode PrePar’. In:
Journées DAPP - Agences de l’Eau - 2023. Paris, France, Mar. 2023, pp. 1–20. URL: https://hal.in
rae.fr/hal-04233810.

[32] O. Mauviel, J.-Y. Courtonne, G. Mandil and P. Sturm. ‘Parameter reconciliation for designing bio-
physically consistent socio-technical alternatives’. In: ISIE 2023 - 11th International Conference on
Industrial Ecology. Leiden, Netherlands, 2nd July 2023, pp. 1–2. URL: https://inria.hal.scien
ce/hal-04077396.

Scientific books

[33] Z. Steep, S. Wahnich and L. Delannoy. Les limites à la croissance.Meadows : questions raisonnées.

Voix publiques. excès, 10th Oct. 2023. URL: https://hal.science/hal-04360218.

Scientific book chapters

[34] F. Berthoud, P.-Y. Longaretti and S. Wahnich. ‘La décroissance est-elle aujourd’hui la seule alternat-
ive permettant d’opérer une transition écologique résiliente face aux changements environnemen-
taux ?’ In: Les limites à la croissance - Meadows : questions raisonnées. Voix publiques. Excès, 3rd Oct.
2023, pp. 1–7. URL: https://hal.science/hal-04294295.

[35] L. Delannoy and A. Godin. ‘Le modèle World3 est-il actuellement utilisé dans les débats et décisions
politiques des banques centrales ?’ In: World3 et le rapport Meadows, les Limites à la Croissance.
Questions raisonnées pour aujourd’hui. Voix publiaues. Excès, Oct. 2023, pp. 1–4. URL: https://ha
l.science/hal-04260061.

[36]

S. Fenet. ‘Quelle pertinence pour le modèle World3 ?’ In: World3 et le rapport Meadows, Les Limites
à la Croissance. Questions raisonnées pour aujourd’hui. 2023, pp. 1–8. URL: https://inria.hal
.science/hal-04311553.

[37] P.-Y. Longaretti. ‘Comment le modèle World3 a-t-il été conçu ? Comment les limites sont-elles
prises en compte dans le modèle ?’ In: World3 et le rapport Meadows, Les Limites à la Croissance.
Questions raisonnées pour aujourd’hui. 2023. URL: https://hal.science/hal-04294286.

[38] P.-Y. Longaretti. ‘Dans quelle mesure les conclusions tirées du modèle World3 sont-elles valides?
Comment le modèle peut-il être mis à l’épreuve de la réalité s’il n’a pas vocation à être prédictif ?’ In:
World3 et le rapport Meadows, Les Limites à la Croissance. Questions raisonnées pour aujourd’hui.
2023. URL: https://hal.science/hal-04294290.

[39] P.-Y. Longaretti. ‘Quels étaient les buts poursuivis par les auteurs du modèle World3 ?’ In: World3
et le rapport Meadows, Les Limites à la Croissance. Questions raisonnées pour aujourd’hui. 2023,
pp. 17–27. URL: https://hal.science/hal-04294284.

[40] P. Sturm. ‘Image Geometry’. In: Omnidirectional Vision: From Theory to Applications. ISTE, Dec.

2023. URL: https://inria.hal.science/hal-03563140.

[41]

S. Wahnich. ‘République’. In: Une histoire globale des révolutions. Histoire-monde. La Découverte,
Sept. 2023, pp. 1–19. URL: https://hal.science/hal-04363764.

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Doctoral dissertations and habilitation theses

[42] L. Delannoy. ‘An exploration of the systemic risks emerging from the interaction between energy,
finance and the economy’. Université Grenoble Alpes [2020-....], 14th Sept. 2023. URL: https://th
eses.hal.science/tel-04395369.

Reports & preprints

[43] D. Dupré. Collapse and Jewish insurrection to establish an egalitarian society in the Bronze Age.

15th June 2023. URL: https://hal.science/hal-04129538.

[44] N. Ferrand, M. Boissier, P. Sturm and J.-Y. Courtonne. Vers une concertation “amont” sur les enjeux et
projets énergie / biodiversité / eau / développement dans le PETR Briançonnais - Ecrins - Guillestrois -
Queyras. 9th Oct. 2023. URL: https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-04233838.

[45] N. Ferrand and J. Latune. Projet TI LITTORAL+ / LITTOPART: Note de Synthèse. TI-LITTORAL+-3.

Inrae, 15th Sept. 2023, pp. 1–17. URL: https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-04232657.

[46] N. Ferrand, M. Machado-Rios, S. Morardet, M. Boissier, S. Malingrey, J. Latune, E. Perrier, E. Crouzet
and J. Line-Guerreiro. EAU-MI-CRAU: Bilan des ateliers réalisés dans la Crau 2023. Inrae, 5th June
2023, pp. 1–66. URL: https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-04232658.

[47] N. Ferrand, S. Morardet, M. Machado-Rios, M. Boissier, G. Abrami, J. Latune, E. Crouzet, S. Malin-
grey, E. Perrier and J. Line-Guerreiro. Collaboration de recherche INRAE-SYMCRAU - synthèse finale
publique: Apport Recherche-Intervention INRAE G-EAU - mai 2021 - mai 2023. Inrae; Symcrau,
30th May 2023, pp. 1–10. URL: https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-04232673.

[48] N. Ferrand and S. Tronçon. CoOPILOT: Designing an Integrated Platform for Participation & Trans-

ition Engineering. 19th Oct. 2023. URL: https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-04233388.

[49] E. Hassenforder, N. Ferrand, R. Ducrot, C. Lejars and W. Aquae-Gaudi. Recherches participatives et
démarches participatives dans des projets de recherche : des pratiques et des attendus différents ?
Exemple de l’approche CoOPLAGE. 16th Feb. 2023. URL: https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-04233979.

Other scientific publications

[50] A. Bouffange. ‘Linking political economy and material flow analysis to analyse material downscaling
: Cuba under the "special period" and post/de-growth.’ Cachan, Ecole normale supérieure .,
25th June 2023, pp. 1–190. URL: https://inria.hal.science/hal-04254913.

[51] A. Dauvergne. ‘Prototypage d’un jeu vidéo sérieux à but éducatif visant à montrer les liens entre les
enjeuxéconomiques, environnementaux et sociaux’. Grenoble INP, 21st June 2023. URL: https:
//inria.hal.science/hal-04170555.

[52]

J. Latune, M. Rios, J. Line-Guerreiro, E. Perrier, G. Abrami and N. Ferrand. ‘LittoWag : a serious game
to explore adaptation scenarios in front of coastal risks’. In: ISAGA 2023 - 54th International Simu-
lation and Gaming Conference. Simulation and Gaming for Social and Environmental Transitions.
La Rochelle, France, 4th July 2023, pp. 1–1. URL: https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-04232691.

[53] M. Mangeot, M. Boissier, J.-Y. Courtonne, M. Donsimoni, S. Wahnich and N. Ferrand. ‘Recherche
participative sur l’usage et l’impact des modèles de flux de matière pour la prospective face aux
enjeux de transition dans les territoires’. In: Sciences participatives en situation d’interdisciplinarité,
journée de restitution. Paris, France, 2023. URL: https://hal.science/hal-04233042.

11.3 Other

Scientific popularization

[54] L. Delannoy, A. Godin, B. Andrieu, H. Jeanmart, P. Jacques and S. D. Yilmaz. Une économie de
guerre sera-t-elle nécessaire pour respecter l’Accord de Paris sur le climat ? 1st May 2023. URL:
https://inria.hal.science/hal-04426805.

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Educational activities

[55] N. Ferrand. ‘Co-construire avec les acteurs : vers la participation décisionnelle: Ingénierie de la
participation pour la gouvernance et la gestion de l’eau’. Master. France, Jan. 2023. URL: https:
//hal.inrae.fr/hal-04233709.

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<scratchpad>
- Main topic: Research Centre STEEP (Sustainability Transition, Environment, Economy, and Local Policy)
- Key points: 
  - Research program focuses on Global Systemic Risks and Sociotechnical Alternatives
  - Global Systemic Risks axis analyzes global and local risks, including energy, finance, and food supply chains
  - Sociotechnical Alternatives axis explores possible futures and trade-offs between socio-economic and environmental criteria
  - Partnerships and collaborations with international and national institutions, including CNRS, INRAE, and UGA
- Structure: 
  - Document is divided into sections, including Research Program, Application Domains, Dissemination, and Partnerships and Cooperations
  - Each section provides detailed information on the research activities, projects, and collaborations
- Potential artifacts to ignore: 
  - Unnecessary web-related elements, such as links, HTML tags, and formatting
</scratchpad>

After analyzing the document, I have identified the following key points:

<final_summary>
The STEEP research centre focuses on sustainability transition, environment, economy, and local policy, with a primary emphasis on addressing global systemic risks and sociotechnical alternatives. The research program is divided into two axes: Global Systemic Risks and Sociotechnical Alternatives, which explore global and local risks, including energy, finance, and food supply chains, as well as possible futures and trade-offs between socio-economic and environmental criteria. The centre collaborates with international and national institutions, including CNRS, INRAE, and UGA, to address these complex issues and develop tools for decision-making and policy design. Through partnerships and collaborations, STEEP aims to provide integrated and systemic visions and approaches to reduce and prepare for the consequences of overshooting planetary limits.</final_summary>
The STEEP research centre focuses on sustainability transition, environment, economy, and local policy, with a primary emphasis on addressing global systemic risks and sociotechnical alternatives. The research program is divided into two axes: Global Systemic Risks and Sociotechnical Alternatives, which explore global and local risks, including energy, finance, and food supply chains, as well as possible futures and trade-offs between socio-economic and environmental criteria. The centre collaborates with international and national institutions, including CNRS, INRAE, and UGA, to address these complex issues and develop tools for decision-making and policy design. Through partnerships and collaborations, STEEP aims to provide integrated and systemic visions and approaches to reduce and prepare for the consequences of overshooting planetary limits.