Sustainability and systemic challenges of the energy transition: the case of the bakery sector

The Montpellier Environmental Research Observatory is hosting a series of short, multidisciplinary lectures aimed at raising awareness and fostering discussion on the issue of climate change. The “OREME Mini-Lectures” are open to the public and feature experts in environmental, earth, and planetary sciences. On Thursday, January 25, 2024, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. on the Triolet campus, the University of Montpellier will host the lecture “Sustainability and Systemic Challenges of the Energy Transition: The Case of the Bakery Sector.” It will be presented by Benjamin PILLOT, a researcher at UMR ESPACE-DEV, part of the IRD.

The conference in a nutshell

From the Yellow Vests movement to the war in Ukraine, tensions surrounding the availability of energy services have continued to rise in recent years. Electricity rates have more than doubled between 2020 and 2022 in Europe, impacting a range of small-scale economic activities. Last January, for example, artisan bakers took to the streets to draw attention to the skyrocketing cost of their energy bills. The government’s response to these systemic issues remains largely the same, primarily centered on subsidies and financial compensation measures. These measures highlight the disconnect that exists today between policymakers’ approach and the reality of the socio-environmental challenges of our century—a disconnect that scientific literature has extensively documented. To better understand how to bridge this gap, this conference will explore the scientific, societal, and science-society challenges of a sustainable energy transition. We will focus in particular on what could represent a future solution for artisanal baking: solar-powered bakeries.

Benjamin Pillot is a modeler and researcher at the French Research Institute Research Sustainable Development (IRD, UMR Espace-DEV), specializing in socio-energy systems. His work focuses primarily on developing energy transition scenarios using systemic approaches rooted in sustainability science. His research focuses on topics such as the evolution of energy systems in the context of climate change in West Africa, solar-powered bakeries and food self-sufficiency thresholds on the island of Réunion, and human mobility and intra-urban land use planning in Brazil.

Free lecture; no registration required, subject to availability.