Title of the thesis: Investing for “mineral sovereignty”. France’s critical metals supply policies.
Supervisers: Brice Laurent and Béatrice Cointe.
Guillaume Louvet’s doctoral thesis focuses on the analysis of the development of a French strategy for securing supplies of critical metals. His doctoral research is part of the ANTICIP project (Anticipation: The Future of French Subsoil Use), which is coordinated by Alexandre Violle and Brice Laurent (CSI-Mines Paris – PSL) as part of the PEPR “Sous-sol, bien commun” (“Subsurface as a Common Good”). Guillaume is interested in the interaction between expertise and public decision-making regarding critical mineral resources. He examines this interaction through various instruments developed for this purpose, such as criticality studies, stress tests, and strategic stocks. The thesis seeks to understand how these anticipations are produced and how they inform different mineral sovereignty strategies in concert with private actors.
Publications
Laurent, B., Louvet, G., Solé-Pomies, R., & Violle, A. (2025). What makes minerals critical? Problematizing sovereignty in times of crisis. The Extractive Industries and Society, 24, 101720, doi : https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2025.101720
Laurent, B., Louvet, G., Solé-Pomies, R., Violle, A. (2025) Des minéraux pour la transition. Comment les études de criticité posent la question environnementale, Environnement, Risques et Santé, 153-9. doi : 10.1684/ers.2025.1860