Ministers, Honourable Delegates, 

We would like to inform you of recent major achievements and deliverables of EuroGeoSurveys (EGS), the Geological Surveys of Europe, in support of GEO.

First and foremost, EGS’ flagship project, A Geological Service for Europe (GSEU), funded under the European Union’s Horizon Europe research programme, is progressing on a variety of high-value datasets that are being published through the European Geological Data Infrastructure. The ultimate goal of the GSEU project as a whole is to establish a sustainable Geological Service for Europe, providing a stronger mandate to the Geological Surveys of Europe in contributing to the sustainable and responsible use of the Earth’s subsurface environment and resources.

A key area of expertise provided by GSEU and underpinned by earth observation is coastal vulnerability assessments and optimised offshore windfarm siting studies. The objectives of this research theme are primarily focused on helping governments, regional and local authorities, industry, cultural heritage organisations and the marine research community to make informed decisions about the sustainable development, management and protection of coastal areas and the seabed. Coastal areas are sensitive zones that require careful management due to increasing pressures from urbanisation, climate change (sea level rise) and extreme weather events. A detailed understanding of the current geological processes on the seabed and its subsurface geology is crucial for all stages of the planning process and subsequent site investigation for the development of offshore wind farms and associated infrastructure. Experts involved in the GSEU project have already demonstrated how coastal vulnerability assessment and adaptation to climate change can be supported by geological and hydrogeological information in combination with EMODnet (European Marine Observation and Data network), Copernicus services and space geodesy and are expected to further expand on it. Coastal vulnerability assessment requires an interdisciplinary approach that considers the central role of geomorphology and surface geology in coastal evolution and associated risks.

An additional contribution of the EGS community to GEO is the operational portal of the European Geological Data Infrastructure (EGDI) which is continuously updated with new or improved data and is currently being further developed through the GSEU project. Data from numerous pan-European projects and thousands of national datasets and associated metadata are already available in this common platform with more than 600 data layers, covering harmonised spatial information such as onshore and offshore geology, mineral and energy resources, geohazards, geochemistry of soil, groundwater and urban geology. Such data have high relevance to the Earth Observation community, and they can serve as validation or ground truth data. The EGS Spatial Information Expert Group has been working on further data harmonisation to create pan-European data. At the same time, user test workshops are being carried out at regular intervals in order to further improve the platform’s usability and ensure the information is easily findable and accessible for our stakeholders.

The project “EGMS RASTOOL-DoS: European Ground Motion Risk Assessment Tools - Downstream Service”, co-funded by the European Union under the UCPM, started in March 2025 and has been progressing since then. EGMS RASTOOL-DoS aims to bridge critical gaps in disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) by developing a prototype for a ground motion (GM) analysis service within the Copernicus Emergency Management Service (CEMS) On-Demand Mapping. By transforming EGMS outputs into actionable maps, the service will facilitate the detection, interpretation, and characterization of GM phenomena and their potential impact on structures and infrastructures. Key objectives include developing and demonstrating the effectiveness of the service prototype at both European and local scales, as well as fostering greater awareness and adoption of EGMS data among disaster management practitioners.

Concerning raw materials: the EGS Minerals Resources Expert Group (MREG) contributes to mineral raw material data (for both primary and secondary resources) through support for the European Union’s Critical Raw Materials Act, advancing the European Raw Materials Knowledge Base, and the DG Joint Research Centre’s Raw Materials Information System. A number of our expert community are also involved in enhancing the use of Earth observation data in mineral exploration technologies and methodologies, especially for the new National Exploration Programmes being launched across Europe.

In the field of human settlements, the EGS Urban Geology Expert Group (UGEG) has achieved significant results with the launch of the Urban Geo-climate Footprint (UGF) – a new method (Lentini et al., 2024;  La Vigna et al., 2026) for classifying and clustering cities based on their geological and climatic characteristics. This approach is essential to better understand urban vulnerabilities and developing effective risk mitigation strategies. Implemented through the creation of a dedicated tool, the UGF method allows urban challenges to be assessed through the combined lens of geology and climate. It is based on the principle that cities with similar geological and geographical settings are likely to face comparable challenges due to shared geological hazards and the impacts of climate change. By promoting this classification, the UGF raises awareness among non-experts and decision-makers about the complex interactions between geological conditions, climate pressures, and human activity in urban environments. Additionally, the tool provides fundamental information on the subsurface resources available in each city.

In this context, EuroGeoSurveys remains a strong supporter and a committed and active member of the global GEO community, as well as a regular contributor to the European GEO High-Level Working Group and EuroGEO.

Thank you for your attention,

EuroGeoSurveys