Future of Earth Sciences: Strategies to Combat Climate Change Revealed!

Future of Earth Sciences: Strategies to Combat Climate Change Revealed!

On April 4, 2025, the umbrella organization for geosciences (DVGeo) presented an important white paper at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin that addresses the future of geosciences. Under the title “Future Research in Geosciences”, the strategy paper focuses on the urgent global challenges, in particular the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the provision of climate-friendly energy and raw material resources. Prof. Friedhelm von Blanckenburg from the Free University of Berlin was in charge of creating the document.

The white paper addresses three central questions: the formation of the Earth, other planets and life, the measurement and simulation of Earth's change, and geoscience solutions and options for action for current challenges. The aim of the document is to encourage the scientific community to collaborate intensively while at the same time emphasizing the importance of individual disciplinary projects for innovation.

Interdisciplinary research approaches

A key aspect of the white paper is the promotion of interdisciplinary collaborative research. These research approaches are intended to develop an integrated understanding of Earth systems and investigate complex relationships such as the relationship between earth crust forces and earthquakes. The DVGeo is also committed to knowledge transfer and organizes information events and the German Geosciences Olympiad.

The DVGeo, founded in Berlin in 2015, is the voice of four major geoscientific societies and represents around 10,000 geoscientists. To address the challenges of climate change, the paper has also highlighted proposed solutions to mitigate man-made climate change.

In addition to the strategies described in the white paper, Germany is currently involved in several significant research projects that support the understanding of earthquake safety and geodynamic processes. Particularly noteworthy is the German Seismological Broadband Array (DSEBRA), part of the European AlpArray project. This includes 100 mobile broadband stations that can be used flexibly to gain knowledge about mountain building processes in the Alps.

Technological innovations in geoscience

DSEBRA gives Germany access to dense, long-term seismological arrays that function as geoscientific telescopes. This technology has already seen success in North America and will be critical to improving our understanding of earthquakes, volcanic activity and mantle convection. Considered to be the densest seismic array on the scale of an entire orogen, AlpArray will consist of approximately 600 land stations spaced 30 to 40 km apart.

Novel seismic exploration methods, such as full waveform inversion, are applied to the AlpArray data. This project will not only expand knowledge about the deep structures and dynamic processes in mountain belts, but also provide a platform for developing innovative methods.

In view of the global climate crisis, geoscience is not only required to generate clear knowledge, but also to offer practical solutions that have an impact beyond national borders. Climate change transcends national borders and therefore requires interdisciplinary, international cooperation. Experts often ask the question: “Why do we know so much and act so little?” This “knowledge-action gap” highlights the need to link research and practical implementation more closely.

Many countries' policies have set themselves the goal of living and operating climate-neutrally by the middle of the century. This requires coordinated transformation paths in all areas of society, which in turn makes innovations in inter- and transdisciplinary research as well as tests in real-world laboratories necessary. This is the only way to achieve sustainable action against the challenges of climate change.

In conclusion, the results of the white paper and projects like DSEBRA not only strengthen the foundations of our geoscientific research, but also provide much-needed answers to the pressing questions of our time. Further information about geoscientific developments can be found at DVGeo, dem Geoinstitute of the Ruhr University Bochum and that German Climate Consortium.