BRGM publishes its new science strategy

BRGM has published its new science strategy and redefined its priorities. A major survey and analysis project was undertaken in 2024 with the aim of strengthening the research effort and the ways it supports public policy, partnerships with business and international cooperation.

A 10-year strategy adapted to changes in socio-economic issues

Major economic, geopolitical and climate changes have caused BRGM to re-assess its scientific priorities since its previous science strategy was published in 2019.

This new strategy was defined to respond to a significant increase in interest in ground and subsurface uses and resources.

Several underlying trends have influenced the new science strategy:

• Europe's growing awareness of the need to secure supplies of mineral raw materials.
• The impacts and acceleration of climate change are becoming increasingly evident, amplifying certain natural risks (landslides, subsidence/cave-ins, falling rocks, and the erosion and shrinkage/swelling of clay).
• Conflicts over the availability and quality of groundwater.
• The need to accelerate the energy transition and mitigation of climate change through technological solutions involving the characteristics of the subsurface and the resources it can provide (geothermal energy, geological storage of CO₂, etc.).

Other scientific and technological developments are also affecting BRGM's fields of research and expertise:

• The increasing use of artificial intelligence in all of the institute's scientific disciplines.
• The deployment of new observation technologies, both on satellites and in the field.
• The mediating role of the social sciences with geoscience in response to the legitimate rise of societal issues relating to the subsurface and its resources.