Environment and climate: a brief socio-history for engineers

The increasing frequency and intensity of heat waves, prolonged droughts, large-scale fires, floods, and violent storms are evidence of climate change, which is anthropogenic in origin and mainly caused by the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. In this context, where the long-term viability of the planet for humans is being called into question, it seems worthwhile to put environmental issues into historical perspective. Depending on the stakeholders involved (industry professionals and other professionals, political leaders, citizens, scientists), the environment concerns both the various types of pollution and the direct or indirect, immediate or long-term effects of physical, chemical, and biological agents, as well as social factors, on living beings and human activities.

This article therefore aims, through a review of the literature, which is inevitably biased and partial, to look back at the history of environmental concerns, particularly environmental management and climate governance, in order to help understand the situation in which humanity finds itself today, faced with unprecedented challenges. As a reference point, two boxes present a chronology of major industrial disasters and the key dates in environmental policy in France, Europe, and internationally.

The first part of the article deals with ecology, both as a science and a social concept. As a science, its institutionalization in France was late and turbulent; as a social concept, citizen mobilization played a major role in bringing it to the political forefront. These two characteristics may partly explain its distance from industrial spheres, which have nevertheless been caught up in the issue of major technological risks.

The second part presents the three major reports from the last third of the 20th century that brought environmental issues to the fore: the Stockholm Conference report, the Meadows report (The Limits to Growth), and the Brundtland report, which gave rise to the concept of sustainable development.

The third part recounts the fundamental role played by environmental movements, starting in the 1960s, in the environmental policies implemented from the 1970s onwards. The concept of "sustainable development," which emerged in the late 1980s, highlighted the notion of "stakeholders" to refer to all entities (individuals and organizations) involved in decision-making on a given environmental issue. The inclusion of these stakeholders in decision-making processes initiated a new mode of governance. Based on this concept of sustainable development, the United Nations established climate governance in the early 1990s, which is also presented in this section.

Finally, the fourth part...