François Allain – Voluntary local carbon offsetting and carbon neutrality in France

This research study examines the emergence of public carbon offset schemes at national and local level in France at the turn of the 2020s. A range of stakeholders develop certification frameworks and buy and sell carbon credits in the agriculture and forestry sectors, with the aim of facilitating processes to reduce emissions or sequester carbon dioxide in biomass. This study seeks to understand how awareness of the controversies surrounding this type of instrument shapes the development of these schemes by public authorities and private stakeholders in France.
This study is based on a qualitative methodology, comprising forty-seven semi-structured interviews, thirty-seven observed meetings (observation and participant observation) and visits to eight project sites. The study was structured around interviews selected to represent the full range of stakeholders involved in these schemes: administrative departments of central government and local authorities, local elected representatives, intermediaries (technical, administrative and financial), businesses, farmers and forest owners. The intertwining of issues relating to quantification, certification and economic valuation within a context of controversy and uncertainty makes this a cross-disciplinary research topic. Drawing on tools at the interface between the sociology of public action, the study of science and technology in society (STS) and the sociology of environmental discourse, the study examines the trade-offs made by public and private stakeholders regarding the quantification of CO₂e, the consideration of risks and uncertainties, certification and economic valuation.
This thesis examines several dimensions through which these actors seek to restore credibility to a contested instrument: the argument of co-construction (Chapters 1 and 2), the argument regarding the precision of quantifications and the quantitative consideration of uncertainties (thresholds, discounts) within the general framework and sector-specific methods (Chapters 3, 4 and 5), the tool of semantic renewal (Chapter 6) and, finally, the argument for the moralisation of practices through the introduction of codes of values (Chapter 7).

Composition of the jury:

• Stéphanie Barral, Research Fellow, INRAE/LISIS (Examiner)
• Olivier Coutard, Research Director, CNRS/LATTS (Thesis Supervisor)
• Marie Hrabanski, Research Director, University of Montpellier, CIRAD/Art-Dev (Rapporteur)
• Alice Mazeaud, Senior Lecturer, University of La Rochelle/LIENSs (Rapporteur)
• François-Mathieu Poupeau, Research Director, CNRS/LATTS (Examiner)