France 2030: BRGM IS fully committed to the joint management of three national research programmes

BRGM is now jointly managing three large-scale national research programmes supported by France 2030. It is also a partner in the recycling PEPR (priority research programmes and equipment) in its strategic focus on critical metals. The launch of these major research programmes underlines the growing recognition by the French government and society of the need to better manage the subsurface, its uses, its resources and the corresponding risks. 

The year 2023 saw the operational launch of these three programmes. This represents a major undertaking involving dozens of research laboratories across the country, national research bodies and universities. These research programmes are funded by France 2030 to the tune of €175m over seven to ten years. Each of these programmes is made up of a series of projects which were finalised and contracted out during the year.

For BRGM, these programmes support much of its scientific work, such as knowledge of the subsurface in France, energy uses, mineral resources, natural risk management and, of course, groundwater management.

They were selected by an international jury in a call open to all scientific sectors. This demonstrates the extent to which the issues addressed by BRGM are at the core of current challenges in society and constitute research topics at the highest scientific level.

SUBSURFACE programme: a common good 

The subsurface from 1 m to 5 km below the surface is where the solid Earth interacts with human activities. This physical environment accommodates numerous human infrastructures and all our exploitable natural resources. The subsurface is essential to the energy transition: the search for new mineral resources essential to low-carbon technologies, the use of underground geothermal potential to replace gas heating and the geological storage of heat, cold and gases (CO₂, hydrogen, etc.). In addition, the increase in urbanisation density requires improved consideration of the subsurface in development strategies.

Jointly managed with CNRS, this programme targets several regions, including the Massif Central and French Guiana for their mineral resources, the Paris Basin for planning issues, the Aquitaine Basin for subsurface storage and Alsace for its geothermal resources. Researchers from different disciplines will be working together on a number of major areas of interest in the region in order to improve our knowledge of the subsurface. They will work with various stakeholders to develop scenarios for its use and model their impact.

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Launch of  the PEPR “SUBSURFACE: a common good”, on 18 January 2023, led by BRGM and CNRS with the participation of 35 institutions and laboratories over seven years. © BRGM - P. Vassal

The IRiMa (Integrated risk management) programme

Climate change, other natural hazards, and technological risks are highly cross-disciplinary fields of research. Yet they remain little explored, even though they are essential to modern society. The IRiMa programme was set up to develop “risk science” in France. It aims to develop new concepts for risk and disaster management and their impact, particularly against the backdrop of climate change. The programme sets out to integrate knowledge from the fields of geoscience, engineering, digital technology and social sciences to take a systemic approach to the management of natural and technological risks. It will propose new innovative tools to better detect, understand, quantify, anticipate and manage risks and disasters. It will focus in particular on the issue of cascade effects combining natural, environmental, technological, health and biological hazards.

Co-led by BRGM, CNRS and the University of Grenoble-Alps, the eight-year, €52m programme is built around a national consortium of leading universities and national reference organisations working in the field of natural, technological and environmental risks. 

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The IRiMa research programme (Integrated Risk Management for more resilient societies in an era of climate change) was launched on 22 May 2023 at the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie in Paris. The programme is co-led by BRGM, CNRS and the University of Grenoble-Alps. © BRGM - P. Vassal

The OneWater programme 

France was one of the first countries in the world to set up water governance at the catchment basin level, but the assumption that everything could be resolved at the basin level is no longer considered to be true. Global climate change has increased natural and anthropogenic pressures on water resources, creating a major challenge for our societies in the 21st century: it is urgent to act now and at all levels. Global phenomena are overtaking local conditions and new issues are emerging. These challenges need to be addressed through more integrated, systemic, multi-actor approaches to co-construct solutions that are adapted to a range of different realities.

The OneWater programme has funding of €53 million over 10 years, and is co-led by BRGM, CNRS and INRAE. The aim is to change the paradigm by having water recognised as a common good, a central element of socio-ecosystems that are subject to climatic and anthropic forcing.

The Recyclability, Recycling and Reincorporation of Recycled Materials programme 

This programme aims to address a number of ecological, economic and technological challenges in the transition to a more circular and environmentally-friendly economy. BRGM is responsible for the strategic metals strand of this €40 million programme coordinated by CNRS.