Explore our international achievements

In March 2016, the French Development Agency (AFD) asked Cerema to take part in the “Cities & Climate Change” technical seminars, organised in partnership with the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF). Cerema presented on the context and French initiatives in this field, as well as the services and tools developed to tackle these challenges.

A Cerema team generated a detailed map of the remains for the Franco-Peruvian “Huayruro” project whose mission is to recover ancient Inca villages buried in the year 1600 during a volcanic eruption 80 km from Arequipa (Southern Peru).

On February 1, 2022, the first international symposium on sustainable urban development, with the aim of sharing at the international level with the objective of sharing at the international level the tools and and methods developed in France in terms of of sustainable cities. The sustainable and innovative city label, launched launched on this occasion, aims to support local communities in the evolution of the city and its practices, particularly in terms of evaluating their strategies strategies and actions.

The Midterm session of the International Commission on Illumination (CIE) took place from September 27 to 29 September 2021 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A look back at the four papers presented by Cerema on outdoor lighting, one of which received the best oral paper award.

The EICPAD project (Expertise, Engineering and Skills in the service of sustainable development policies of local auhorities in French-speaking places) brings together communities from Morocco, Benin, Côte d'Ivoire and Madagascar as well as French local authorities in order to to mutually reinforce project management and engineering capacities for development and equipment projects by including adaptation to climate change.

A webinar on the French practice of taking climate change into account in the strategic environmental assessment of plans and programs was organized on June 14, 2021 by Cerema at the request of the Croatian Association of Experts in Nature and Environmental Protection.

World Water Day, which takes place this March 22 is an opportunity to raise public awareness of the importance of water in the life of local players and its value. Cerema is working on these issues, to provide methodological tools to local players.

Cerema takes part in Project TyCCAO for the enhancement, both in Mauritania and Senegal, of a local plant resource, typha, in construction and as a fuel. This project is funded by FFEM, the French fund for the word environment.

In the context of the European scientific collaboration project COST GABI (shallow geothermy applications for buildings and infrastructures), Cerema conducted a short-term scientific mission, from 11 to 22 November 2018, at the university of Sao Paulo on the subject of thermoactive foundation piles.

Cerema was present at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas, the leading innovation event at the international level, to participate in the selection of the best start-ups in its fields of expertise, and in particular in particular the building sector.

As part of a twinning funded by the European Commission, Cerema is supporting the Moroccan Ministry of Energy, Mines and the Environment (MEM) in the implementation of the national energy strategy. This strategy aims to secure the energy supply, guarantee access to energy, while also preserving the environment.

As part of the "Support for strengthening the energy sector" twinning program between the European Union and the Kingdom of Morocco, Cerema provided training for the Moroccan Ministry of Energy, Mines and Sustainable Development (MEMDD) on the operationalization of Morocco's thermal construction regulations (RTCM).

Responding to the invitation of Laurence Maillart-Méhaignerie, Member of Parliament for the 2nd constituency of Ille-et-Vilaine, Cerema took part in a round table on active mobility on November 3 2021, alongside the Club des villes et territoires cyclables (CVTC), and the French Federation of Bicycle Users (FUB). The discussions provided an opportunity to review the current dynamics and to discuss solutions that could encourage the practice of cycling and walking for all in every places.

At the end of April, Cerema took part, alongside several French local authorities in an international study tour concerning Italian limited traffic zones and and the redevelopment of public spaces , in the cities of Turin, Cuneo and Milan. The program included three days of exchanges with Italian authorities and planners, punctuated by field visits, coordinated by the teams of the Laboratorio Qualità Urbana e Partecipazione (LAQUP -Turin) and co-organized with Rue de l'Avenir France and Rue de l'Avenir Switzerland.

Cerema went to Tunisia at the end of March for a study mission on seven development projects supported by the European project AUTREMENT.

Since 2020, Cerema is involved in a twinning program between Algeria and the European Union which aims at the "institutional capacity building" of the of the Urban Transport Authority of Algiers, created in 2015. Cerema is designing training modules for the teams of this authority for the organization of urban transport.

Launch in France of the largest European project for and automated mobility, to exploit the potential of 5G through the study of use cases. Cerema is a partner in the project and will contribute its expertise, particularly in the area of environmental assessment.

On February 3, 2022, a webconference was organized by Rue de l'Avenir Switzerland, Rue de l'Avenir France and Cerema, to share European policies and experiences on the reduction of the importance given to cars in cities. Find the videos of the four thematic sessions and the round table, as well as the presentation materials.

Mobilise Your City is an international climate partnership launched by the French and German governments, and sponsored by the European Commission. It promotes integrated planning of urban mobility in developing and transitioning countries. Cerema is a founding member of the initiative. Cerema offers its expertise in North Africa and Latin America.

In Peru, the FEXTE programme (Fonds d’Expertise Technique et d’Echanges d’expériences - Technical expertise and experience exchange fund) of the French development agency (Agence Française de Développement), supports the development of sustainable urban mobility plans in the country’s 4 large cities (Lima, Arequipa, Cusco and Trujillo). Cerema conducted several missions in Peru between 2016 and 2018 in the context of this programme.

The purpose of the FEXTE programme (Fonds d’Expertise Technique et d’Echanges d’expériences - Technical expertise and experience exchange fund) of the AFD (Agence Française de Développement - French development agency) in Egypt is to offer technical assistance to the Egyptian Ministry of Transport in terms of development and operation of urban transport systems. Cerema is mobilized to improve multi-modal exchange hubs and carried out a mission in January 2019.

In 2019, Cerema conducted a study for the French Development Agency in the context of the Yaoundé City Centre project in Cameroon, intended to improve the city’s traffic and mobility conditions. This study focused on road safety in the context of the redevelopment of three major junctions.

Cerema conducted a benchmarking mission on car-pooling-specific lanes in Canada in June 2018, providing useful feedback for the French Government and communities. The various high-occupancy vehicle “HOV” lanes in the Cities of Quebec and Montreal were inspected.

In the context of the France - Cepalc (Economic commission for Latin America and the Caribbean) cooperation programme, Cerema is working on urban mobility at the Latin American regional level and is drafting a Latin American repository of high level of service public transportation systems.

A Cerema team travelled to Colombia to work with the Colombian national road safety agency (ANSV) to analyse 1,000 km of road network and to identify potential solutions. With over 7,500 deaths per year on the roads, for a population of 47 million inhabitants, road safety is a major challenge in Colombia.

At the end of 2017, the “testing resources and approval” work group of the Nouvelle France Industrielle (NFI) - Véhicule Autonome plan, chaired by Cerema, conducted a study mission in the United States to visit the American test centres and to meet with autonomous vehicle stakeholders.

Cerema has contributed to the drafting of a guidance note for the G20, in order to formulate recommendations for investments in the maintenance and management of resilient infrastructures. This work was carried out by international experts as part of the Think 20, a G20 think tank.

Cerema conducted an engineering mission in Madagascar to ensure that road safety issues were correctly integrated into the Antananarivo ring road project intended to bypass the East and North-east of the city.

Cerema was called upon by the Road Development Authority on Mauritius to provide technical assistance in the context of the work on the “Terre Rouge-Verdun” road, a major trunk road that suffered a significant landslide in 2015. Cerema, in partnership with Ifsttar, developed a solution for securing the road in April 2018.

With funding from the World Bank, Cerema conducted a preliminary study in Haiti on the local road network, to enable the Haitian ministry of transport to create a technical repository for the development of road infrastructures, also known as road repository.

Cerema collaborates with the United States Air Force (USAF) to determine the bearing capacity of soils for the landing of large aircraft. Project “Odyssey” compares the geophysical properties of soils, obtained in a high-yield non-destructive manner, with their geotechnical properties, obtained by destructive spot tests.

The French Development Agency (AFD) has asked Cerema to appraise the project of two new metro rail lines in Surat, India. The objective is to integrate in the project's governance mechanism a maximum of technical framework in order to ensure compliance with the standards for projects financed by the World Bank and AFD and to guarantee the best possible environmental integration of the project.

As part of an ongoing public policy dialogue, the French Development Agency in Vietnam organised a series of seminars in July, co-constructed with Cerema, to support the Vietnamese authorities in integrating climate change issues into urban development. This approach aims to support the development of action plans by cities to implement the Paris agreements at COP26.

Between 31 March and 9 April 2023, a specialist from the "Repsody" research team in Cerema Méditerranée's Natural Hazards Department took part in the post-seismic mission organised by the AFPS (French Para-seismic Engineering Association) in Turkey, following the two earthquakes on 6 February 2023, of magnitudes Mw 7.8 and Mw 7.5. This multi-disciplinary mission is helping to increase knowledge of the impact of earthquakes, crisis management and seismic regulations in particular.

From September 4 to 11, 2021, Cerema participated in the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Marseille, where it presented the French in nature conservation in development and transport projects. Present at the Forum of exchanges on innovative solutions as well as at the "Espaces générations open to the general public, Cerema's experts contributed to the dissemination of best practices in the fight against light pollution and maintaining or restoring the ecological continuity that is essential to nature.

Two Cerema specialists spoke at the European Forum on the Circular Economy (EFCE) which took place June 23 and 24, 2021, on topics related to the circular economy in the field of construction and public works.

The French Development Agency (AFD) has asked Cerema to appraise the project of two new metro rail lines in Surat, India. The objective is to integrate in the project's governance mechanism a maximum of technical framework in order to ensure compliance with the standards for projects financed by the World Bank and AFD and to guarantee the best possible environmental integration of the project.

Coastlines are fragile areas exposed to natural hazards, which can be strongly disturbed by the rapid development of urbanization and by the effects of climate change. This book (also available in English) presents the case of the Indonesian city of Semarang on the Java Sea, which is confronted with various problems such as subsidence.

A webinar on the French practice of taking climate change into account in the strategic environmental assessment of plans and programs was organized on June 14, 2021 by Cerema at the request of the Croatian Association of Experts in Nature and Environmental Protection.

This Franco-Japanese programme aims to improve the empirical modelling of coastline changes, faced in particular with the impacts of climate change. In February 2019, two Japanese researchers from the Port and Airport Research Institute (PARI) spent two weeks in France in the context of a scientific collaboration with Cerema.

In August 2018, Cerema travelled to Haiti in the context of the cooperation between the GEOAZUR laboratory and the Haiti State University Faculty of Science to perform seismological experimentation technology transfer.

Project ANR-Remake (2016-2020) develops a predictive and quantitative model for earthquakes in Ecuador and Northern Peru, a region regularly hit by major earthquakes. Cerema carried out measurements in Quito to study changes in the seismic wavefield caused by the presence of large buildings.

Cerema conducted a benchmarking mission in Quebec to analyse the post-catastrophe reconstruction conditions following the 1996 floods at Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, along with the modes of action implemented. The aim was to gain an understanding of the reconstruction process and to determine the manner in which it constitutes an opportunity to reduce the region’s vulnerability to future events.

Cerema is a partner of the Franco-Quebecois cooperation project for flooding assessment and attenuation (COPARI) launched in 2015. This latter aims to establish a common basis for the assessment of vulnerability to flooding.

A webinar who aimed to share key informations about wave measurement observatories of 9 different countries (Belgium,England, Finland, France, Iceland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, USA) was organized by the Cerema on december 2021. The objective was to better understand nature and goals of data providers, to share respective experience to find new ways to perpetuate the measurement sites and enhance the data's value.

Cerema is involved in international projects, particularly in Africa. On the occasion of the Africa-France summit, Cerema proposes a focus on two partnership projects with Morocco, on the modernization of lighthouses and the audit of monitoring traffic and management systems. A forward-looking commercial mission was also carried out in the field of infrastructure, with a view to contributing to the development of the road network and sustainable mobility in Morocco.

The webinar organized by the Ministry of the Sea in partnership with Cerema and IOC-UNESCO was held on May 5, 2021 around two components: The presentation of the planning as it is implemented in other European countries: Netherlands, Sweden and England and a look at the French experience through the lens of the themes structuring the work of MSPglobal.

France’s WACA-F project, which supports the World Bank’s WACA programme (West Africa Coastal Areas Management Program) provides Senegal, Benin, and Togo with the historical cartographical data and bathymetric surveys they need to understand coastal erosion.

Since 2013, Cerema has been working on the problem of the city of Semarang on the island of Java, which is faced with a dual problem of sea level elevation and soil subsidence.