Christophe Poinssot, Deputy Director General of BRGM.
© BRGM - Didier Depoorter
With two members elected to the National Academy of Technologies of France, BRGM actively contributes to promoting informed public debate on the role and importance of the subsurface in meeting the challenges of the ecological, energy and digital transitions.
Providing science-based information to support public debate on the major technological issues of our time
The National Academy of Technologies of France is a public administrative body whose mission is to act as a trusted third party and mediator for informed public debate on the major technological issues of our time, by providing science-based information to support public authorities and citizens in their decision-making. Thanks to its collective work and the wide-ranging expertise of its members, the NATF provides a carefully researched, original and impartial view on issues relating to technologies and how they interact with society. The Academy is committed to promoting useful and responsible technological choices that improve living conditions.
It has around 380 elected members from a wide range of backgrounds, reflecting every kind of technology, and strives to provide collegial, multi-disciplinary expertise to ensure informed, responsible, deliberate and shared progress, in line with its motto. The Academy's members are elected by their peers on the basis of their professional excellence and commitment to tackling today's major technological challenges. They take part in the Academy's research work, which produces reports and recommendations on various subjects, either at the request of the public authorities or on its own initiative.
Addressing the challenges of energy, technology and climate
In addition to having two Academy members among its staff, BRGM is regularly asked to provide scientific input for the Academy's studies into energy, technology and climate-related issues.
Consequently, the Academy has regularly asked BRGM to provide its expertise, with the most recent consultations concerning the issues of securing the supply of mineral resources, water technologies, heat storage, and coastal risks linked to climate change. In this way, BRGM is able to raise awareness about the little-known yet central role that the subsurface and subsurface resources have to play in the ecological and energy transitions, and to defend the idea that the subsurface and its uses need to be regarded, once more, as issues of national policy. These consultations bear witness to BRGM's active commitment to building dialogue between scientific communities and public society.
The newly elected members will be officially presented at a formal ceremony on 11 March 2025 at the Sorbonne.
