He is the creator of the “carbon footprint”, a set of methods developed by the “French Environment and Energy Management Agency” (ADEME) to measure the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by an organisation as a result of its activities. The French carbon audit was one of only two existing processes in this field in the early 2000s.

To raise awareness of the issue, he co-founded with climatologist Hervé Le Treut, amongst others, the “Entretiens de Combloux”, an annual seminar at which publication directors and editors-in-chief were invited to learn about climate, energy and nuclear issues. At “Mines Paris”, his course focuses on energy and climate change.

In 2020, Jean-Marc Jancovici launched The Shift Project, a think tank dedicated to energy transition that has made the concept of global warming intelligible. He chairs the board of directors of the association, which publishes high-profile expert reports on digital technology and Europe’s future oil supply.
Since 2010, he has enjoyed a growing reputation and an active and diverse online community of supporters. These include entrepreneurs from the CAC 40, members of parliament and senior civil servants, as well as environmental activists who are receptive to his no-nonsense approach.

Jean-Marc Jancovici has become one of the main spokespersons for the concept of degrowth. Starting from the axiom that unlimited growth is impossible in a finite world, he advocates the ethics of voluntary simplicity, revisiting production indicators and rethinking the place of work in our lives. Jean-Marc Jancovici is the author of a number of widely acclaimed books, including “L’effet de serre: Allons-nous changer le climat?” with Hervé Le Treut (Flammarion 2001), “Le changement climatique expliqué à ma fille” (Seuil 2009), and the comic strip “Le monde sans fin: Miracle énergétique et dérive climatique” with illustrator Christophe Blain (Dargaud 2021), the best-selling book in France in 2022.