François Allain’s thesis defence

Introduction

The LATTS is pleased to announce that François Allain’s PhD thesis defence will take place on Thursday 2 April 2026 at 2.00 pm, in room B202 (Carnot building) at the École nationale des ponts et chaussées, on the Cité Descartes campus. The defence will last approximately three hours and will be conducted in French. His thesis is entitled:

‘Restoring credibility to a controversial instrument. An investigation into local and national carbon offsetting in France’

This sociology thesis was completed at the LATTS under the supervision of Olivier Coutard.

A video conference is available to the public via the following link: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/32588732252073?p=F5ruCuSrlWDUc32h7O

Composition of the jury

• Stéphanie Barral, Research Fellow, INRAE/LISIS (Examiner)
• Olivier Coutard, Research Director, CNRS/LATTS (PhD 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)

Abstract of the thesis

This research 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 actors in France.
The research employs 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 and local government, local elected representatives, intermediaries (technical, administrative and financial), businesses, farmers and forest owners. The intertwining of issues of quantification, certification and economic valuation in situations of controversy and uncertainty makes this a cross-cutting 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 discourses, the study examines the trade-offs made by public and private actors regarding CO2e quantification, 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 sectoral methods (Chapters 3, 4 and 5), the tool of semantic renewal (Chapter 6) and, finally, the argument for the moralisation of practices through the implementation of value charters (Chapter 7).