HGI-CGS is a partner on the EU Horizon Europe project Geological Service for Europe (GSEU; https://www.geologicalservice.eu/) in collaboration with 48 institutions. This project aims to directly support the ‘European Green Deal’ vision by focusing on the Earth and its underground resources, such as energy, water and mineral raw materials.

The project duration is five years, financed by the European Comission, Horizon Europe Coordination and Support Action (CSA), with indirect costs from national geological organisations (NGOs), up to total 24 mil euro. The geological surveys of Europe are the primary providers of subsurface data, information, and advice that can help the EU to achieve The Green Deal.

The primary goal of the GSEU project is to develop and make a pan-European geological data infrastructure and related information services available permanently for the sustainable and safe use of subsurface resources.

The main work will be in work packages dealing with a secure supply of critical minerals to develop green technologies, inventory of geothermal energy and underground storage capacities, groundwater quality and quantity which is needed to manage agricultural land use, detect and mitigate pollution of drinking water, monitor and plan for extreme flooding events. Also, work will be done on mapping of the subsurface to manage conflicting surface and subsurface land use, such as farming, urban development, carbon sequestration, geothermal energy exploitation, or storage of hydrogen fuel.

These and other important roles can only be filled with the data and expertise of the geological surveys of Europe.

GSEU will 1) develop harmonized pan-European data and information services, 2) build on the existing geological platform "European Geological Data Infrastructure – EGDI“; https://www.europe-geology.eu/) and 3) strengthen national and regional networks of geological services.

The Department participates in the following work packages (WPs) of the GSEU project:

WP 2 – Critical Raw Materials, International Center of Excellence and United Nations Framework Classification (CRM-ICE-UNFC);

WP 5 – Coastal Vulnerable Assessment and Optimised Offshore Windfarm Siting;

WP 8 – Communication, Dissemination & Exploitation;

WP 9 – Geological Surveys network and sustainable services for Europe.

The aim of the Mineral Resources work package (WP2) is to reassess Europe's primary critical mineral resources, including onshore and offshore deposits, as well as mining "waste" resources. Special emphasis is placed on critical mineral raw materials needed for the green transition. Furthermore, the project seeks to create an International Center of Excellence for Sustainable Resource Management (EU ICE-SRM) and promote the use of the UN Framework Classification (UNFC) for mineral resources. Task 2.1 (Onshore CRM), led by BRGM (Bureau de Recherches Géologigues et Minierse) from France focuses on reassessing European primary and secondary onshore critical mineral resources. Task 2.3 (ICE SRM), managed by GeoZS (Geological Survey of Slovenia), focuses on the establishment of the International Center of Excellence for Sustainable Resource Management (EU ICE SRM) as a center for capacity and knowledge development center in support of the UNRMS (UN Mineral Resources Strategy). An important aspect of the project is also the promotion of the UNFC as a means of compiling unbiased, comparable and standardized information on resources at the international level. Task 2.4 (UNFC), led by the Hungarian MBFSZ (Magyar Bányászati és Földtani Szolgálat), aims to provide a baseline assessment of the latest findings and recommendations for the use of the UNFC for mineral resources in Europe. In summary, the work package WP2 in the GSEU project plays a key role in the development, assessment and management of critical raw materials, the integration of resource information and the promotion of standardization in the management of mineral resources.

Osnovni cilj petog radnog paketa posvećenog marinskoj geologiji (WP5) je omogućiti lokalnim i regionalnim upravnim tijelima, industriji, različitim organizacijama i institucijama koje se bave istraživanjem mora da donesu ispravne odluke vezane uz održivi razvoj, upravljanje i zaštitu obalnih područja i morskog dna. Kao posljedica urbanizacije, klimatskih promjena, izdizanja razine mora i ekstremnih vremenskih uvjeta ova područja su iznimno osjetljiva i stoga se potrebno brinuti o njima na odgovarajući način. Voditelj petog radnog paketa je HSGME (Hellenic Survey of Geology & Mineral Exploration) iz Grčke. Na dva zadatka iz ovog radnog paketa (od ukupno četiri) sudjeluju djelatnici HGI-a iz Zavoda za mineralne sirovine i marinsku geologiju  i Zavoda za hidrogeologiju i inženjersku geologiju. Zadatak 5.1 vodi BRGM (Bureau de Recherches Géologigues et Minierse), a nastoji se utvrditi ranjivost obala i njihova prilagodba na klimatske promjene u kombinaciji s EMODnet (European Marine Observation and Data Network) podacima, Copernicus programom i geodetskim podacima. U sklopu zadatka 5.1 predloženo je istraživanje (case study) obalne stabilnosti i ranjivosti područja Pakoštana. Na ovom prostoru dolazi do erozije lesnog platoa koji naliježe na karbonatne stijene. Planira se uspostaviti trogodišnji monitoring koristeći višesnopni dubinomjer (multibeam), geodetske i lidar podatke, te fotogrametriju. Zadatak 5.2, koji se odnosi na izgradnju odobalnih vjetroelektrana, procijenit će najbolje metode za kartiranje površinskih i podzemnih obilježja prije, tijekom i nakon izgradnje odobalnih vjetroelektrana. Glavni voditelj ovog zadatka je UKRI-BGS (British Geological Survey).

Through this five-years project, GSEU will deliver a plan for a sustainable Geological Service for Europe to be implemented after the completion of the project. This service will serve European society and provide sound information for policies in water, energy, raw materials, hazards, and all areas that require subsurface data and expertise. Through this service, we will contribute to environmental sustainability and social well-being in Europe, supported by a powerful and comprehensive digital infrastructure.

Project webpage: https://www.geologicalservice.eu/