Citation
Van Hulst, F., Strietman, WJ., Gileva, E., Kopke, K., Shivarov, A., Vlachogianni, T., Ruhl, R., Booth, A., Van Leeuwen, J., Hendriksen, A. (2025). SOS-ZEROPOL2030 Deliverable D3.2: SWOT analysis of 3 regional Living Labs.

Executive Summary
A second round of three Living Labs was organised as part of the EU-funded Source to Sea: Zero Pollution 2030 (SOS-ZEROPOL2030) project, which aims to deliver a stakeholder-led zero-pollution framework for achieving the European Union’s long-term ambition of ‘Zero Pollution’ in European seas . In line with the Source-to-Sea approach and the previous Living Lab sessions, the second round of Living Labs involved stakeholders across the different life-cycle stages of the targeted pollutants: per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and tyre wear particles (TWPs). The Living Labs involved expert stakeholders included policy makers, industry, NGOs, research and service providers. Interactive co- creation sessions facilitated an assessment of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) of four zero-pollution scenarios for each of the three regional seas covered by SOS-ZEROPOL. The scenarios development methodology and final scenarios are reported separately (see Hulst et al., 2025).

For the North-East Atlantic Sea region, the Utrecht Living Lab (March 2025) focused on PFAS emissions in the medical sector, one of the key contributing sectors of PFAS emissions. The SWOT analysis showed that the two public sector-led scenarios are associated with improved long-term public and environmental health outcomes, while requiring significant expansion of public sector monitoring, reporting and enforcement capability. The two industry-led scenarios are viewed as requiring a more radical transformation in the economic workings of multiple sectors in terms of shaping effective industry incentives and drivers towards sustainability. The proactive scenarios towards chemicals governance were often highlighted as the preferred scenarios by stakeholders, but the effectiveness and environmental outcomes are seen as contingent on multiple preconditions and therefore more uncertain than reactive scenarios.

For the Black Sea region, the Varna Living Lab (April 2025) focused on persistent chemicals in the Black Sea basin, including PFAS emissions coming from the Danube River. The SWOT analysis highlighted that across scenarios, stakeholders see advantages in any structured, integrated approach towards chemicals pollution. The EU-driven scenarios are seen as effective but requiring significant expansion of monitoring and policy enforcement. The regional-led scenarios are complicated by the current war in Ukraine and the associated lack of priority for environmental issues on the regional and national political agendas, increasing the disparity with the two EU Member States in the region. Overall, stakeholders expressed preferences for the proactive scenarios and a strong role for the region to ensure alignment with regional priorities, while recognising the need to balance this with a realistic pace of regional political development and institutional capacity.

For the Mediterranean Sea region, the Athens Living Lab (May 2025) focused on preventing and mitigating emissions of tyre wear particles (TWPs) throughout the product chain, with an emphasis on eco-design of car tyres and removal of tyre wear particles at wastewater treatment plants. The SWOT analysis showed high stakeholder appreciation of the proactive scenarios due to the associated improved public and environmental health outcomes, while recognising the difficulty in fully transitioning to eco-designed tyres. The industry-led scenarios highlight that substantial transformation of the product chain is required, especially regarding transparency, true costing, innovation orientation and shaping extended producer responsibility (EPR) to include the costs of remediation action. The results across the three Living Labs demonstrate the potential of the joint assessment of scenarios to identify governance needs and trade-offs. The results highlight the value of Living Labs as dynamic, experimental co-production spaces. In a next step, these findings will be used to make EU scenarios towards marine zero-pollution.