Météo-France and BRGM strengthen their cooperation

Météo-France and BRGM, two renowned scientific organisations, have a long history of working together on issues relating to water resources, soil drought and rising sea levels. Faced with the intensification of climate change, the two organisations are stepping up their collaboration in order to strengthen and perpetuate their partnership over the long term.

On 11 July 2024, Virginie Schwarz, Chair and CEO of Météo-France, and Catherine Lagneau, Chair and CEO of BRGM, signed a framework agreement to strengthen scientific cooperation between the two establishments. Given their complementary roles in meeting the challenges of climate change, their respective CEOs have decided to formalise the framework for their future institutional collaboration.

3 priority areas of cooperation

Three priority areas have been identified:

• Improving the ability to anticipate the management of water resources, with the aim of better forecasting and anticipating them in the short, medium and long term.
• Improving sea level and storm surge/coastal-flooding forecasts, in order to assess more accurately the scenarios of coastal exposure to flooding.
• Finally, improving understanding of the effects of drought on soils and the risk of clay shrinkage and swelling, in a context in which the cycle of drying-out and hydration of soils is changing as a result of climate change.

In these three priority areas of cooperation, the two establishments may be asked to carry out joint work on behalf of the public authorities in line with the national projected warming scenario for adapting to climate change, to conduct research or co-supervise theses, to participate jointly in French or European calls for projects, to exchange staff or to share their data and scientific equipment and instruments.

This framework agreement between Météo France and BRGM covers a five-year period.