Global demand for minerals is growing rapidly, driven by rapid population growth, urbanisation and an increasingly diverse range of technical applications. Global material supply chains linking the extraction, transport and processing stages of raw materials have become increasingly complex and today involve multiple players and product components. An interactive platform that provides transparency about existing approaches and information gaps concerning global material flows is needed to understand these global supply chains; developing this capability is critical for maintaining competitiveness in the European economy. Against this backdrop, the proposed MinFuture project aims to identify, integrate, and develop expertise for global material flow analysis and scenario modelling. Specific activities include: • the analysis of barriers and gateways for delivering more transparent and interoperable materials information • the assessment of existing model approaches for global material flow analysis, including the demand- supply forecasting methods • the delivery of a ‘common methodology’ which integrates mineral data, information and knowledge across national boundaries and between governmental and non-governmental organisations; • the development of recommendations for a roadmap to implement the ‘common methodology’ at international level; • the creation of a web-portal to provide a central access point for material flow information, including links to existing data sources, models, tools and analysis; MinFuture brings together 16 international partners from across universities, public organisations and companies, to deliver new insight, strategic intelligence and a clear roadmap for enabling effective access to global material information.

We aim to contribute to the European Green Deal, the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Horizon Europe objectives through the development of a Geological Service for Europe, which focuses on the planet itself: the earth beneath our feet. The subsurface holds indispensable resources for European industries and opportunities to decarbonise our economy, but also requires careful management to preserve a healthy and safe living environment for Europe’s citizens. Structurally addressing the EU dimension in geological services is needed because the scale of many societally and economically relevant geological features exceeds that of individual countries. Addressing transnational and continental-scale problems requires innovation, standardisation, harmonisation as well as a shared vision. We aim to build the Geological Service for Europe based on Europe’s best practices and implement the Service with the backing of the Union. Existing geological surveys, the national custodians of geological information, have amassed huge legacies of data and information that are difficult to merge. This project will continue the harmonisation and standardisation effort initiated in earlier projects. We aim to create joint services that can support acceleration of the energy and climate transitions, as well as a larger critical mass of intra-European cooperation through convergence of our research agendas, as key steps to increase the amount and quality of results we are aiming for. A common thread in this project is innovation in ways in which subsurface information is conceptualised, organised, visualised, delivered and translated to the needs of a wide range of audiences, and the methodologies to achieve this. Building on the groundwork laid in the GeoERA program, we will scale up and out, not only scientifically, but also in involving national stakeholders in the network, in order to create support and eventually obtain a mandate for a European Service on a permanent basis.

TALENTS is a European based research network aiming to train early career researchers with the interdisciplinary, science-driven understanding and skills that are the foundation to develop new sustainable solutions for the global challenges of the energy transition. Our joint research focuses on continental rifts which are key regions for geothermal energy, carbon capture and storage, for new resources such as native hydrogen as well as high-risk human habitats due to geohazards such as earthquakes and volcanic activity. We believe that only if we better understand the natural process chains that shape rifts and passive continental margins by investigating key natural laboratories, characterising rift initiation (East African Rift), rift maturation (Gulf of Corinth in Greece, Central European Rifts), and continental breakup (West Iberian margin), we will obtain key knowledge for a safe and sustainable exploration for new, carbon free energies. TALENTS fuses research and training at 18 beneficiaries and academic partners that are among the world leaders in the study of rift systems and 11 companies that are actively involved in the energy transition. The 12 PhD projects address fundamental scientific aspects of rift system processes, collectively bridging several orders of magnitude of spatial and temporal scales. Each doctoral candidate is linked to (1) an academic partner to complement and broaden their scientific training, (2) to a dedicated industry partner to acquire industry-relevant skills and preview possible non-academic career paths, and (3) to a media contact to actively train in communicating their science to the public. Training by research and interaction will be complemented by various forms of education, spanning a wide range of topics to develop scientific and professional skills, to establish ethical standards and to widen career perspectives.