| August 28th, 2024 | News

Dear reader, 

Welcome to our second annual SOS-ZEROPOL2030 newsletter! We have a jam-packed newsletter for you with updates from the past year. Our consortium has not sat still since we gathered in Potsdam for our second General Assembly in autumn 2024, which was generously hosted by the Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS). This event brought together our 10 European partners across eight countries, to strengthen and celebrate our partnership. There is a lot to look back on such as the delivery of our ‘EU Governance Landscape for Zero Marine Pollution’ report, led by Wageningen University in collaboration with our partners from RIFS, SINTEF, and VLIZ, plus the ongoing work concerning Stakeholder and Public perceptions of our four priority pollutants, led by Vienna University.

In Spring 2024, we implemented our first two regional Living Labs focusing on PFAS, which took place in Utrecht, the Netherlands and Varna, Bulgaria. These events were an immense collaborative effort led by Wageningen University with our case study and regional leads from the Black Sea NGO Network and Stichting Wageningen Research. For more information and detail check out our blog posts below. We also just published our brand-new StoryMap on Tyre Wear Particles, and would like to present last year’s StoryMap and infographic on PFAS, both developed by GRID-Arendal.

SOS-ZEROPOL2030 project partners represented the project at numerous events, through attending and presenting at events such as the 34th SETAC Europe, where partners showcased innovative approaches and practical insights for advancing environmental protection, and aligning with the EU’s zero pollution agenda. We attended the Third and Fourth Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (global plastic treaty negotiations), and lend our insight and expertise at the Arctic Circle Assembly, the Arctic Plastic Symposium, Greek BlueMissionMed Hub, ICES working group on marine litter and the Water Innovation Europe meeting, among others.

We are now looking forward to the coming year, which will commence with implementing the next Living Lab in Athens led by our regional lead at MIO-ECSDE, and our case study lead on Tyre Wear Particles at SINTEF Ocean and working together on the development of the Zero Pollution Framework led by Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS).

I am looking forward to another year working with such an enthusiastic and dedicated consortium and hope you enjoy this update about SOS-ZEROPOL2030! Don’t hesitate to share it within your network.

Kathrin Kopke
SOS-ZEROPOL2030 Project Coordinator