Georesources
...improving our understanding of the subsurface
We live in a rapidly changing environment, under pressure from population growth and climate change. As governments and industry commit to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, there will be a need to switch to low-carbon alternatives for energy and transport, which will require sustainable georesources. In addition, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and United Nations projections indicate that CO2 capture and storage will be essential to limit global warming to less than 2°C.
Key questions demanding our immediate attention
- How can we improve our understanding of and gain access to low-carbon energy sources, particularly for geothermal energy?
- What is the most reliable way to remove CO2 from smokestack emissions and – more challenging – from air, and store it permanently underground, either as supercritical fluid in pore space or as solid carbonate minerals?
- What is needed to understand the processes that concentrate raw materials that are essential for low-carbon technology, especially mineral and metal resources such as lithium and cobalt that are used to make batteries?
- How to identify future water resources?
