| January 19th, 2026 | News

SOS-ZEROPOL2030 has released two closely linked Work Package 3 deliverables — D3.1 and D3.2 — that together demonstrate how Living Labs and co-creation methodologies can support the development of realistic, stakeholder-validated pathways towards zero pollution in European seas.

The deliverables focus on pollutants of emerging concern — per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and tyre wear particles (TWPs) — across three European Regional Seas: the North-East Atlantic, the Black Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea.

Establishing the Living Lab approach (D3.1)

Deliverable D3.1 sets out the conceptual and methodological foundation for the SOS-ZEROPOL2030 Living Labs. It explains how the project applies a Source-to-Sea perspective and the CO-ACT methodology to bring together stakeholders from across value chains, including policy makers, industry, researchers, civil society, and service providers, in structured, solution-oriented dialogue.

D3.1 documents the design and outcomes of the first round of Living Labs, where stakeholders jointly identified key challenges, governance gaps, drivers of change, and priorities for reducing pollution. These sessions established a shared understanding of complex pollution problems and created the basis for developing exploratory zero-pollution scenarios.

Validating futures through stakeholder assessment (D3.2)

Building directly on this foundation, D3.2 reports on the second round of Living Labs, where stakeholders assessed and validated the previously developed scenarios through structured SWOT analyses (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats).

Across the three regional seas, Living Labs examined:

• PFAS in the medical sector (North-East Atlantic),
• PFAS pollution in the Black Sea basin, and
• Tyre wear particles in the Mediterranean Sea.

The results highlight clear trade-offs between governance models, revealing how proactive versus reactive approaches, public- versus private-sector leadership, and different levels of transparency and participation influence environmental effectiveness, feasibility, and social acceptance. While ambitious, proactive scenarios were often preferred by stakeholders, they were also recognised as requiring significant capacity building, monitoring, and governance alignment — insights that are critical for realistic policy design.

Strengthening the science–policy interface

Together, D3.1 and D3.2 demonstrate the value of Living Labs as dynamic, transdisciplinary spaces for co-producing actionable knowledge. The validated scenarios and governance insights generated through WP3 form a key input to subsequent project phases, supporting the development of EU-level zero-pollution scenarios and evidence-based recommendations.

Both deliverables are now publicly available in the Resources section of the SOS-ZEROPOL2030 website.

D3.1 Report of 3 regional Living Lab meetings

D3.2 SWOT analysis of 3 regional Living Labs