The Groningen Gas Field: The Role of Science in a Slow-Onset Disaster

This chapter presents a case study of the Groningen gas field. We study the role of science and knowledge in the assessment, monitoring and management of escalating earthquake risks. The case is relevant to climate change in several ways. Around 2006, gas extraction from Groningen was increased with the narrative that gas was the “ideal energy transition fuel”. Gas is more climate-friendly than burning coal or oil, and gas-fueled power plants combine well with renewables (Heath et al. in Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 111(31):E3167–E3176, 2014). Much less attention was devoted to known risks: subsidence, pollution and earthquakes. The latter caused a slow-onset disaster in Groningen. Lessons from this case are relevant to renewable energy initiatives such as hydrogen storage and geothermal energy, as well as to the future exploitations of gas fields, made more likely by the Ukraine war. At the end of the chapter, we reflect on governance of big industrial risks amid climate change.