2022 Highlights
BRGM contributes to the second part of the IPCC report, addressing the question of risk
The purpose of the sixth report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is to review the state of knowledge on climate change. The report looks at the impact of climate change and the associated risks, as well as adaptation strategies. Gonéri Le Cozannet, a BRGM expert on the impact of climate change and coastal risks in particular, contributed to this sixth IPCC report as co-author of the second part concerning the chapters on the regions of Europe and the Mediterranean. He has also produced a summary on rising sea levels and how to adapt, which is included in the chapter on oceans. Rémi Thiéblemont, another BRGM expert on coastal risks, also contributed to the chapter on Mediterranean regions.
Ongoing vocational training: BRGM Formation obtains Qualiopi certificationi
BRGM provides a range of “standard” and “bespoke” training courses with the BRGM Formation label. The aim is to develop scientific and technical competencies to meet the needs of a variety of organisations, including companies, consultancies, government departments and agencies, and regional and local authorities. In January 2022, BRGM Formation was awarded Qualiopi certification by Afnor for its training activities.
Water: launch of the OneWater research programme
OneWater – Water as a Common Good is a research programme (PEPR) co-piloted by CNRS, BRGM and INRAE. The programme is taking place in a context of global change in which the pressure on water is increasing, with water resources now clearly one of the major challenges of the 21st century. Scheduled to run for a period of ten years, the programme is based on six scientific challenges. Its purpose is to place research into water resources at the centre of a sustainable transition at regional level. OneWater is seeking to structure the community in order to produce new knowledge, contribute to student training and foster dialogue and co-construction with socio-economic partners, providing the basis for a comprehensive strategy addressing the diversity and complexity of water-related issues at all spatial and temporal scales. The three pilot organisations will be assisted by ten academic and socio-economic partners in order to accelerate the deployment of research and innovations and to turn this knowledge into solutions and actions.
BRGM and the Imerys Group sign a framework agreement
Jean-Francois Claver, Industrial Officer of the Imerys Group, world leader in mineral-based specialities for industry, and Christophe Poinssot, Deputy Managing Director and Scientific Director of BRGM, have signed a scientific partnership agreement to collaborate and pool skills around the challenges associated with an innovative and responsible extractive industry.
Espaces Ferroviaires and BRGM sign a partnership agreement
Espaces Ferroviaires, the urban planning and property development subsidiary of SNCF Group, signed a three-year framework agreement with BRGM. Through this new partnership, Espaces Ferroviaires is pursuing a twofold objective: to meet its commitments to controlling the environmental impact of its activities, and to make better use of its sites with their complex ground and subsurface systems.
Publication of the journal Geosciences No. 26: “Can ethics and sovereignty be reconciled in critical metals?”
Will we be able to meet all our needs for mineral commodities over the coming decades? How can we secure our supplies given that the last mines in France closed at the end of the 20th century? These questions and others are addressed in issue 26 of the journal Geosciences on critical metals.
BRGM selected as co-leader of two new research programmes as part of France 2030: The Subsurface as a Common Good, and IRiMa
On 18 July 2022, the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research (MESR) and the Secretary General for Investment (SGPI) announced the selection of the second wave of exploratory Priority Research and Equipment Programmes (exploratory PEPRs), run by the French National Research Agency (ANR). BRGM has been chosen as co-leader of two new programmes – one dedicated to future uses of the subsurface (SOUSSOL) and the other to natural and technological risks (IRiMa).
Four new guides for discovering French regional geology
BRGM Éditions is expanding its “Geological Curiosities” collection with four new guides intended to reach a wide audience:
- Curiosités géologiques en Poitou - Deux-Sèvres, Vienne (Geological curiosities in the regions of Poitou, Deux-Sèvres, Vienne);
- Curiosités géologiques du Roannais (Geological curiosities in the Roannnais region);
- Curiosités géologiques du Vexin (Geological curiosities in the Vexin region);
- Curiosités géologiques du massif de Rambouillet et de la vallée de Chevreuse (Geological curiosities of Rambouillet Forest and the Chevreuse Valley).
The Geological Curiosities collection opens up the geology of different French regions to a wide audience.
BRGM and the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region sign a framework agreement on coastal risks
On Monday 5 September 2022, Alain Rousset, President of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region, and Michèle Rousseau, BRGM Chair and Managing Director, formally signed a partnership agreement at the Hôtel de Région in Bordeaux, during a day of discussions on research and the coastline, involving a number of stakeholders (academic partners, elected representatives, officials from local authority departments, etc.). The agreement aims to increase resources for research into coastal risks in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in the light of the growing importance of environmental and societal issues in coastal areas. BRGM will develop its coastal-research centre in New Aquitaine and strengthen synergies with existing scientific projects involving the laboratories of the universities of Bordeaux, La Rochelle, Pau and Pays de l’Adour, the CNRS, INRIA and INRAE. The aim is to eventually create an international centre of excellence with these institutions.
Conference on resources and uses of the subsurface in the energy transition
In partnership with the CNRS, the Avenia cluster, IFP Énergies Nouvelles and ADEME, BRGM co-organised the 2022 edition of the conference on “Resources and uses of the subsurface in the energy transition”. The event took place on 27 and 28 September at the Cité des Sciences in Paris. The conference brought together all the stakeholders (local authorities, institutions, civil society, researchers. etc.) with an interest in how the subsurface can contribute to the necessary ecological transition. The conference sought to provide answers concerning the legitimacy of the various subsurface engineering activities and the conditions for implementing projects in France.
Participation in the Science Festival
The Fête de la science or Science Festival focused on a topic that is central to public concerns now and in the future: climate change. What is the impact of climate change on natural hazards? How can we adapt? Contributing from France’s national Natural History Museum, Gilles Grandjean, BRGM ambassador, and Xenia Philippenko-Crnokrak, PhD student, sought to answer this question.
2022 Congress of the French Mineral Industries Society (Société de l’Industrie Minérale – SIM)
BRGM attended the 71st SIM Congress on 19, 20 and 21 October 2022 in Marseille. BRGM presented its experience in the fields of mineral resources and the circular economy.
BRGM and AFD sign a first partnership agreement
On 26 October 2022, the AFD Group and BRGM signed a partnership agreement to facilitate the provision of BRGM’s expertise in support of the Sustainable Development Goals. This institutional partnership should make it easier to apply BRGM’s expertise to better assist certain countries in meeting the challenges they face in terms of access to water, energy transition and natural hazard management.
Mayors and Local Authorities Convention
BRGM was present at the Salon des maires et des collectivités locales (Mayors and Local Authorities Convention) to meet with the local authorities to which it provides public policy support.
Establishment of the France Geoenergy team
BRGM and its partners officially launched the France Geoenergy team at the Salon des Maires to promote the systematic use of near-surface geothermal energy in France. Initiated by Celsius Energy, BRGM, Equans and Engie Solutions, the role of this group is to promote geoenergy, i.e. near-surface geothermal energy, and to support regional public and private sector users in deploying it to heat and cool all types of buildings.
Launch of OFREMI, the French Mineral Resources Observatory
The French Observatory of Mineral Resources for Industrial Sectors (OFREMI) was officially launched in Paris in the presence of the Minister for the Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher and the Industry Minister Roland Lescure. Initiated by the government following the Varin report on securing supplies of critical metals, this observatory combines the knowledge and experience of the main French stakeholders in analysing the value chains of strategic metals.
BRGM and INRIA join forces
On 15 December 2022, the CEOs of BRGM and Inria strengthened their collaboration by signing a scientific partnership agreement. The five-year agreement between BRGM and the French National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology (Inria), should enable more synergy between their complementary expert digital R&D knowledge applied to ground and subsurface issues. The challenge is to make better use of the increasing amount of often heterogeneous ground and subsurface data in order to improve the management of natural resources and their uses.
