9 May marks Europe Day – on the anniversary of signing the Schuman Declaration, European states celebrate the unity of the continent. The closing ceremony of the year-long Conference on the Future of Europe was held on this symbolic day.
The Conference on the Future of Europe gave an opportunity to citizens to actively take part in the democratic process, and engage with the European Union and its upcoming prospects. This discussion culminated in 49 proposals, each consisting of a key objective and numerous measures. The proposals covering a wide range of areas will be delivered as a report to the European Parliament.
Amongst the key themes, environmental and educational matters can be found. The set of proposals urges the EU to focus on circular economy and provide up to date scientific environmental information to citizens, and calls for a comprehensive, coordinated pan-European educational area.
You can read more about the entire conference here, and you can access the full list of proposals here.
The upcoming science policy workshop “The Nitrogen Element – Sustainable food production?” is scheduled for 26 April, from 10:00 until 16:30 CEST. It is part of the series of policy workshops centred around specific elements of the EuChemS periodic table which shows the scarcity and sustainability of all natural elements.
Through the contributions of scientific and policy experts, these workshops aim to investigate how these elements can be used in a more viable way. Previous workshops investigated the carbon element through the lens of a sustainable society, and the lithium element in relation to the energy transition.
This month’s workshop assesses nitrogen and its role in agriculture. Via the Haber-Bosch process, nitrogen is used to produce ammonia, which sustains an estimated two thirds of global food production. However, the nitrogen cycle is nearing planetary boundaries, and innovative, alternative processes are called for.
In this workshop, a wide range of experts will discuss reducing nitrogen waste, precision agriculture, and numerous other nitrogen- and agriculture-related topics. The webpage of the event contains the detailed programme, information about the speakers, and instructions for registering. As it is regularly updated you can visit it to stay up to date on the latest speakers and finalised schedule.
On 26 March, the European Young Chemists’ Network (EYCN) held its 17th delegate assembly. More than 30 delegates were attending this online event.
The assembly began with a speech by EuChemS president Floris Rutjes, who addressed recent and ongoing EuChemS activities, emphasising EuChemS policy initiatives.
After the EuChemS president’s speech, EYCN board members introduced and discussed numerous EYCN undertakings and priorities, such as the recent diversity webinar, the importance of establishing and maintaining international scientific collaboration, as well as the EYCN Podcast and “Chemistry Rediscovered” video competition. In addition, the current roles and responsibilities of the Membership Team, the recent updates of the Chemistry across Europe interactive map on the EYCN webpage and communications and engagements updates were also reviewed. Following these presentations, the EYCN’s planned events for the upcoming 8th EuChemS Chemistry Congress in Lisbon were presented.
The European Chemical Society (EuChemS) was selected to be a member of the Zero Pollution Stakeholder Platform. The platform assembles high profile stakeholders from various policy backgrounds, including health, agriculture, research and innovation, transport, digitalisation, and the environment. This collaboration aims to help the EU achieve its zero pollution ambition. EuChemS will focus on the contributions chemical sciences can make towards this goal. The next meeting of the platform is expected to be held on 25 April.
The latter is an advisory group, set up by the DG Environment in order to realise, implement, and monitor the goals of the Chemical Strategy for Sustainability, and contribute to the green transition. To assist in doing so, EuChemS has set up an internal group of experts, and created and maintains a dedicated webpage on their website to promote the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability and keep stakeholders and wider public up to date.
EuChems have made the information on its policy activities more accessible by creating a user-friendly webpage, where all its advisory initiatives can be found.
The European Commission’s European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) compiled a set of ten indicators, and using them, measured how 37 European countries perform on the field of equality and inclusion. The findings were published in the report “Towards Equity and Inclusion in Higher Education in Europe”. This report concluded that inclusivity in higher education leaves much to be desired.
The “Towards Equity and Inclusion in Higher Education in Europe” report can be found here.
The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) also had inclusivity-related issues on its agenda: it published a report on racial and ethnic inequalities in the chemical sciences. The “Missing Elements” report’s key findings introduce the lack of diversity in senior academic roles in the UK, as well as the disadvantages minority and ethnic principal investigators face, such as the lower amount of average funding received.
RSC organised a live launch event for the release of the report, where RSC CEO Dr Helen Pain, Professor Robert Mokaya, Professor Ijeoma Uchegbu, Kevin Coutinho and Professor Marina Resmini discussed the findings, and called for addressing and acknowledging the issue. In order to do so, with the launch of the report, the RSC committed to a five-point programme aimed at reducing inequalities. The commitments include financially supporting systemic change, industry partnerships and increasing representation.
The “Missing elements” report as well as the five commitments can be read here.
EFSA has published its latest European Union report on pesticide residues in food. The report covers the analysis of more than 88,000 food samples collected across the European Union in 2020. Data was obtained from the official national control activities carried out by EU Member States, as well as Iceland and Norway. The report also includes a subset of data from the EU-coordinated control programme (EU MACP) and the national control programmes (MANCP).
From the 88,141 samples analysed, a vast majority, 94.9% fell within legal limits. In contrast, maximum residue levels (MRL) were exceeded in 5.1% of the samples, which is an increase compared to 2019 (3.9%).
The data was used to complete a risk assessment analysis about dietary exposure to pesticide residues. This analysis suggested that the examined food commodities are unlikely to pose a consumer health risk. In the rare cases where the exposure for a specific pesticide/product combination was calculated to exceed the health-based guidance value, and for those pesticides for which no limit values could be established, the competent authorities took appropriate and proportionate corrective measures to address potential risks to consumers.
The full report, which covers the results by pesticide residues and by type of food products, as well as dietary exposure and risk assessments, can be found here. The detailed results are also available at EFSA’s website, as browsable charts and graphs.
MEP Dan Nica was appointed by the Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) committee to act as Rapporteur on the Framework of measures for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem (Chips Act). The position of Shadow Rapporteur will be filled by MEP Eva Maydell.
You can read more about MEP Dan Nica here, and MEP Eva Maydell here.
The Chips Act for which they are preparing reports is a set of measures that aims to ensure Europe’s technological leadership in semiconductor technologies, introduced as a response to the global chip shortages of 2021. On 31 March, Executive Vice-President Margaret Vestager participated in the ITRE committee meeting in order to engage in structured dialogue about the chips act.
Semiconductors (chips) contain rare materials, some of them originating from conflict resources – as the EuChemS periodic table demonstrates it. The Chips Act, alongside bolstering innovation and securing supply, also focuses on the sustainability of such technologies, and the role semiconductors may play in circular economy. You can read more about the chips act here.
A vote on the persistent organic pollutants (POP) draft report proposed by rapporteur Martin Hojsik by the ENVI Committee could bring about stricter restrictions on POPs.
The vote follows the national environment ministers’ endorsement of the Council’s call for a regulation further restricting POPs in waste. This will be introduced as an amendment to the existing POP legislation. The regulation aims to boost progress towards a more sustainable, circular economy by ensuring the quality and reusability of secondary materials. In addition, the reduction of these pollutants will help protect public health and the environment.
Restrictions will be mainly focused on the limit values for dioxins and furans (PCDDs/PCDFs), which are not intentionally produced, rather, are present as an impurity in certain ashes. The concentration limit for for dioxins and furans will be set to a maximum of 10 μg/kg.
You can read the details and remain up to date here.
Fluorinated greenhouse gases (F-gases) and ozone depleting substances (ODS) are the focus of the European Commission’s proposals made on 5 April.
The proposal on F gases aims to introduce a tighter quota system for hydrofluorocarbons, as well as restrictions on F gas usage, including the most potent greenhouse gas, SF6. Regarding ODS, the proposal contains new measures for products containing them, as well as additional emission savings achieved by recovering or destroying ODS used in insulation foams during renovation. Both proposals include improved enforcement and broader monitoring.
These human-made greenhouse gases, if released into the atmosphere, contribute drastically to global warming as they are often significantly more harmful than carbon dioxide. Despite this and existing legal limitations, these substances are still broadly used in many areas, such as refrigeration, insulation, among others. The new proposals aim to reduce their usage and incentivise reliance on climate friendly alternatives.
The new F gas proposal and ODS proposal will result in significant emission reduction. It is estimated that the F gas proposal will save the equivalent of 40 million tons CO2 emissions by 2030, and the equivalent to 310 million tons of CO2 by 2050, while the ODS proposal is expected to save the equivalent of 180 million tonnes of CO2 as well as an additional 32,000 tonnes of ozone depleting potential (ODP) emissions by 2050.
The details of the proposals and a more in-depth estimation of impacts can be read here.
The European Commission has launched a portal to assist scientists from Ukraine after the European Research Council’s statement supporting the Ukrainian scientific community. The ERA4Ukraine is a coordinated platform available in English and Ukrainian. It is part of the “EURAXESS – Researchers in Motion” initiative.
EURAXESS has a network consisting of 600+ scientific and academic centres, as well as numerous national-level portals, all of which can be utilised to support students and scientists whose research was disrupted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Through ERA4Ukraine, refugees can also access the temporary employment opportunities provided by European Research Council (ERC) grantees.
The initiative follows in the footsteps of numerous grassroots initiatives, such as the “Science for Ukraine” campaign, which collects opportunities and visualises them on a map. EuChemS has also launched a group last month, focused on helping those who are involved with chemical sciences in Ukraine.
The Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel, made a statement on the topic as well, in which she emphasised the importance of Ukrainian beneficiaries’ access to the EU Research and Innovation programme funds.
