| April 22nd, 2025 | News

The Second Living Lab workshop for the Black Sea on Exploring scenarios for reducing persistent chemicals in the Black Sea basin, took place on 8–9 April 2025 in Varna, Bulgaria. The SOS-ZEROPOL2030 event brought together regional and national administrators, experts, researchers, businesses, and NGOs with the task to assess and prioritise policies in view of their potential to raise awareness and reduce PFAS in the basin’s environment. The insights coming out of the first Living Lab held in May 2024, which identified challenges and objectives for reducing PFAS in the Black Sea basin, were used to inform and develop the future scenarios on PFAS in the Black Sea.

In the second edition the stakeholders determined the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for the identified exploratory scenarios, and the conditions that need to be met to leverage the opportunities and mitigate the identified threats. The Wageningen University & Research team identified the drivers and scales that influence policy choices and devised the scenarios.

“Bans and restrictions on the production and use of PFAS are currently a source of much regulatory, legal, and scientific activity in the EU and elsewhere. Although we do not have PFAS producers in the Black Sea countries, we need to be clear on what these changes mean for public policies and businesses in the basin. To approach the issue, we need to put PFAS on the agenda of politicians and society,” said Aleksandar Shivarov of the Black Sea NGO Network, the regional lead organisation hosting the Living Lab.

Comparing Future Pathways and Governance Approaches

Exploring scenarios on the path to a zero-pollution economy in the Black Sea region, the participants contrasted the views of EU-driven and regionally-driven responsibility. A reactive versus proactive approach to pollution governance formed another decision-making dimension. Many strengths and weaknesses were identified in the collaboration with the EU, which was seen as the faster and better regulated way to achieve the desired goal. Yet, the regional autonomy approach was perceived as better reflecting regional needs and specificity of the countries in the region but lacking in regulatory framework, capacity, and science-policy dialogue.

After identifying opportunities and threats for the implementation of all scenarios, the discussion focused on the most realistic as opposed to the most desirable scenarios for addressing PFAS pollution. The resulting conclusions provided insights into the diversity of opinions on the issue, with strong expectations that realistic scenarios focus on EU or regionally driven reactive approach, while all desirable scenarios envisage EU collaboration or regional leadership scenarios.

The outcomes of the two Living Labs will be part of the advice provided to the European Commission on reducing pollution in European seas within the Source to Seas – Zero Pollution 2030 project.

About SOS-ZEROPOL2030 and Living Labs

SOS-ZEROPOL2030 focuses on four priority pollutants: nutrient inputs, contaminants, plastic litter, and underwater noise, alongside two case study pollutants: per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and tyre wear particles (TWPs). It addresses these issues across three European Regional Seas: the Black Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, and the North-East Atlantic.

The first round of our Living Lab workshops, focusing on PFAS for the North-East Atlantic and the Black Sea and TWPs for the Mediterranean, was held in 2024 in the Netherlands, Bulgaria, and Greece respectively.

Read more on the issue of PFAS in the SOS-ZEROPOL 2030 StoryMap here and have a look at some of our project resources, such as reports, factsheets, and infographics under our Resources tab.