ADEME and ANSES step up their cooperation to integrate human health concerns into climate change solutions
Arnaud Leroy, CEO of ADEME, and Roger Genet, Director General of ANSES, signed a framework agreement this week at the Paris International Agricultural Show. Its aim is to strengthen cooperation between the two public agencies in order to integrate human health issues into their scientific work and efforts to develop solutions to combat climate change. The four targeted priority areas for cooperation are air quality, the bioeconomy & food, polluted sites and the circular economy. This partnership reflects the agencies' shared desire for ever-closer coordination of their competence in scientific expert appraisal and research in the public interest.
The agreement signed by ANSES and ADEME will enable them to strengthen their scientific cooperation on research projects and risk assessment work covering several environmental health topics: air quality, the circular economy, the bioeconomy & food, and the health impact of polluted sites. Pooling their skills and sharing knowledge and resources will enable the two agencies to better characterise population exposure and health impacts. Solutions and tools essential for decision-making will also be developed under this partnership.
Through this agreement, ANSES and ADEME commit to strengthening the links between scientific expert appraisal and research, thereby advancing knowledge and safeguarding health on subjects of great importance in the context of climate change.
Priority themes
In the field of air quality, cooperation has been under way for several years and is mainly aimed at:
- better understanding the factors that cause outdoor and indoor air pollution;
- characterising the health impacts of this pollution;
- developing decision-support tools and new solutions (technical, organisational, etc.) to reduce pollution and its impacts;
- developing ways of assessing the measures taken.
Cooperation on polluted sites will continue in order to:
- characterise the health impacts of polluted sites;
- improve the characterisation of exposure to certain matrices such as dust or food;
- continue acquiring knowledge on the toxicity of substances, and identify persistent or emerging pollutants requiring the development of toxicity reference values;
- improve the way in which the effects of substance mixtures are taken into account, by acquiring new knowledge and developing methodologies;
- recommend human exposure variables to better configure quantitative health risk assessments, based on data that are already available or yet to be acquired.
Regarding the bioeconomy & food, the objectives are threefold:
- combine environmental and nutritional approaches to food systems;
- facilitate data sharing in order to strengthen multi-criteria assessment of food (environment, nutrition, food safety);
- better understand the health impacts of new products such as biosourced products or those associated with biocontrol, etc.
Lastly, in the circular economy, cooperation will focus on:
- characterising the health impact of new consumption patterns (bulk products, home-made products, reconciling food safety and the fight against food waste);
- classifying the health risks associated with recycling and waste management.
Contributing to the Environmental Data Hub process
The two agencies will work on improving the accessibility and interoperability of their databases, with a view to facilitating expert appraisals and research using environmental data.
Cooperation on calls for research projects
ANSES's teams are involved in two of ADEME's calls for research projects: they take part in the scientific committee of "IMPACTS" and the selection committee of "GRAIN" (Managing, producing and making use of biomass). Similarly, ADEME's teams participate in the steering committee of the National Research Programme for Environmental and Occupational Health (PNR-EST) run by ANSES. Three calls for research projects run by ADEME will provide an opportunity for specific new collaborations in 2020: "AQACIA Improving air quality – understanding, innovating, acting", "CO3 Co-construction of knowledge" and a call for thesis projects.
ANSES, the French health and safety agency
ANSES provides public decision-makers with the scientific benchmarks needed to protect humans and the environment against health risks. It studies, assesses and monitors all the chemical, microbiological and physical risks to which humans, animals and plants are exposed, thereby helping the public authorities take the necessary measures, including in the event of a health crisis. A national agency working in the public interest, ANSES comes under the responsibility of the French Ministries of Health, the Environment, Agriculture, Labour and Consumer Affairs. anses.fr @Anses_fr
ADEME, the French environment and energy management agency
At ADEME – the agency for ecological transition – we are fully committed to the fight against global warming and resource depletion. We mobilise citizens, economic players and local authorities on all fronts, giving them the means to move towards a resource-efficient, low-carbon, fairer and more harmonious society. In all areas – energy, air, the circular economy, food waste, soil, waste, etc. – we advise on, facilitate and help fund numerous projects, from research through to the sharing of solutions. We devote our expertise and foresight abilities to public policy-making at all levels. The French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME) is a public establishment under the joint authority of the Ministries of Ecological & Inclusive Transition and Higher Education, Research & Innovation. ademe.fr @ademe