Mission: Investigate environmental pollution sources, pathways, and impacts, developing innovative strategies to reduce pollution risks and enhance environmental quality through advanced modeling and management practices.
Aims:
- Develop advanced monitoring methods for environmental pollutants, encompassing air and water quality, soil contamination, and their interactions;
- Assess the environmental and health impacts of pollution, considering acute and chronic exposure to pollutants in various environmental compartments;
- Identify emerging pollutants and potential risks associated with new technologies, industrial processes, and products to proactively address environmental challenges and ensure risk reduction;
- Investigate the effectiveness of pollution control measures and environmental policies to reduce pollution-related health risks and promote sustainable practices;
- Explore the integration of cutting-edge modeling techniques to predict pollution trends and support environment management and evidence-based decision-making;
- Engage with stakeholders from diverse sectors to develop and implement pollution prevention and remediation strategies based on innovative and science-based management practices.
CESAM’s research within the Environmental Management, Pollution and Modelling thematic tine (TL2) tackles urgent challenges related to environmental pollution. To maximize impact, our work aligns with key EU policies and strategies, incl. the Environmental Quality Standards Directive, Water Framework Directive, Air Quality Directives, Industrial Emissions Directive, EU Chemicals Regulations (REACH, CLP and Biocidal Products), Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability, Zero Pollution Action Plan, European Green Deal, Circular Economy Action Plan, and Waste Framework Directive. We actively contribute to EU research and innovation framework programs like Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe, fostering collaboration and securing funding to address complex pollution issues.
TL2 research encompasses soil health and sustainable agricultural practices (RG2), innovative tools to assess, remediate and mitigate contaminant risks (RG5), air quality modeling and forecasting (RG3), and the exploration of circular economy principles for pollution reduction (RG6). Fundamental research strengthens our ability to identify emerging pollutants and understand complex environmental processes, incl. the interactions between pollutants in mixtures, their behavior in the presence of stressors like climate change, light, temperature, and drought, within the One Health concept. RG5 leads in groundbreaking real-time biological and chemical contaminant monitoring, exposure assessment, and innovation for safer and sustainable by design chemicals and materials, while RG3 provides complementary insights on air pollution dynamics and climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies.
TL2 places a strong emphasis on both traditional priority pollutants and emerging pollutants such as pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs). These compounds and their bioactive metabolites can continually enter environments which together with environmental degradation products result in highly complex mixtures. Even low concentrations can significantly impact organisms due to continual life-cycle, multigenerational exposure. TL2 research aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the environmental and health impacts of biological and chemical pollution.
TL2’s commitment to evidence-based strategies, stakeholder collaboration, and science communication will ensure that our research informs impactful environmental management practices across various sectors. We also engage with international organizations like the WHO, UNEP, and OECD (collaborating on chemicals management and policy development), leveraging global expertise and resources to support our mission.
RGs major contributors:
RG2 – Soil Functions, Agriculture, and Forestry
RG5 – Environmental Monitoring, Health, and Risk Assessment
RGs minor contributors:
RG3 – Ocean and Atmospheric Modelling
RG6 – Circular Economy, Resources and Energy Optimization