PROFESSIONALS / MAY 4, 2021
International Symposium
Extreme weather events: A Harbinger of Future Climate?
This conference is co-organized by Météo et Climat and the Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace. It will be broadcast in livestream from the International Conference Center of Sorbonne University (Paris 5th) where the speakers will be hosted.

09:00 – Official opening
Frédérique VIDAL Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation (TBC)
Jean CHAMBAZ President of Sorbonne Université
Jean JOUZEL President of Météo et Climat
09:25 – Introduction
Robert VAUTARD Director of Institut Pierre Simon Laplace and President of the Scientific Committee
Session 1 – Recent extreme events and trends
09:30 – Keynote on the state of the art of science on extremes at the international level
Sonia SENEVIRATNE Climatologist, professor in the Institute for Atmosphere and Climate Science, ETH (Zurich) & author at the IPCC
09:45 – Losses and economic costs case study (national level)
Laurent MONTADOR Deputy CEO, CCR & CCR Re
10:00 – Recent extreme events, issues, methods
Jean-Michel SOUBEYROUX Deputy Scientific Director of Climatology and Climate Services Department of Météo-France
10:15 – Panel discussion
10:30 – Quiz feedback
Session 2 – Floods
10:45 – Introduction video
10:50 – Keynote “Flash floods”
Robert VAUTARD Director of Institut Pierre Simon Laplace
11:00 – How Company studies adaptation to the physical impacts of climate, illustrated by an example of flash flooding on an installation.
Christine FAURE-FEDIGAN Head of corporate climate policy, ENGIE Group
11:10 – Which tools do decision-makers have to establish public policies?
Magali REGHEZZA-ZITT Doctor in Geography at Ecole Normale Superieure and member of the High Council on Climate
11:20 – Case study “Seine” – The changes, the limits of the models, what we can and cannot say
Célia BLAUEL Deputy Mayor of Paris in charge of the resilience of the 2030 perspective and the Seine
11:30 – Panel discussion
11:50 – Quizz feedback
Session 3 – Heat waves
2:00 – Introduction video
2:05 – Survey feedback
2:10 – Keynote on attributing heat waves to Climate Change
Aurélien RIBES Researcher at CNRM, Météo-France & CNRS
2:20 – Impacts of a heat wave from a “Health” perspective
Mathilde PASCAL Climate Project Officer – Santé publique France, the national public health agency
2:35 – Impacts of a heat wave from an “Industry” perspective
Cécile LAUGIER Director of Prospective and Environment for EDF’s generation fleet
2:50 – Panel discussion
Session 4 – From perception to action
3:15 – Survey feedback
3:20 – Perception / barriers and drivers of change
Solange MARTIN Sociologist
3:35 – Véronique MARIOTTI Climate risk expert, PhD, EcoAct
3:50 – Public Policy: Solutions, Anticipation and Adaptation
Ahmed ABOUTALEB Mayor of Rotterdam (tbc)
4:00 – Ronan DANTEC Senator for the Loire-Atlantique Region, France, President of the Climate Chance Association
4:15 -Panel discussion
4:35 – Closure Dominique MARBOUTY Vice-President of Météo et Climat
Losses due to extreme weather and climate events are increasing worldwide, and some extreme events in the last decade have been particularly devastating. For example, since 2015, Western Europe has not had a summer without an extreme heat wave. It is therefore important to understand whether the various events are linked to climate change and whether there is an urgent need to strengthen adaptation.
Society, infrastructure and natural systems are adapted to a range of climates, and adaptation is often calibrated on historical data. But the climate has already changed and it is time to re-examine climate risks.
This conference will bring together a multidisciplinary panel of experts from the climate and social sciences as well as policy makers.
It will explain the role of climate change in recent extreme events, how this informs current and future climate risks and how society and stakeholders should interpret this information.
Chair
- Robert VAUTARD Director of Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace
Members
- Sylvie PAREY Senior Research Engineer at EDF Lab Paris-Saclay
- Yann FRANÇOISE Head of division “climate and circular economy”, Urban Economy Agency of the City of Paris
- Dominique MARBOUTY Vice-President of Météo et Climat
- Jean-Michel SOUBEYROUX Deputy Scientific Director of Climatology and Climate Services at Météo-France
THE ESSENTIAL
- May 4, 2021
- CIC Sorbonne Université
- How to get there
- In French-English simultaneous translation

2021 speakers

Carine Rocchesani
Journaliste spécialisée en environnement

Jean Chambaz
Sorbonne Université

Jean Jouzel
Météo et Climat

Robert Vautard
IPSL

Sonia Seneviratne
ETH (Zurich)

Laurent Montador
CCR

Jean-Michel Soubeyroux
Météo-France

Christine Faure-Fedigan
Groupe ENGIE

Magali Reghezza-Zitt
ENS

Célia Blauel
Mairie de Paris

Aurelien Ribes
Météo-France

Mathilde Pascal
Santé publique France

Cécile Laugier
EDF

Solange Martin
Haut conseil pour le climat

Véronique Mariotti
Eco-Act

Ronan Dantec
Sénateur de la Loire-Atlantique

Dominique Marbouty
Météo et Climat