Europe’s citizens cite pollution as the most important environmental problem after climate change. The European Green Deal sets out the need to better monitor, report, prevent and remedy pollution from air, water, soil. In 2020, the Commission launched a new Chemicals Strategy for sustainability, followed by an Action Plan: ‘Towards Zero Pollution for Air, Water and Soil’, adopted in May 2021. The Action Plan sets out key targets to speed up pollution reduction by 2030. High quality metrological data is needed to support these targets. However, comparability and robustness of measurements are often compromised by a lack of traceability chains and appropriate quality control, validation schemes, standardisation or standard operating procedures.

This project has defined the scope of a future European Metrology Network (EMN) for pollution monitoring in the fields of air, water and soil, focussing initially on chemicals and radionuclides. It has established regular dialogue with stakeholders in the fields of pollution monitoring, encompassing existing networks such as AQUILA, NORMAN, EURDEP, ESDAC and WMO-GAW; and standards developing organisations. It has developed a Strategic Research Agenda and an extensive programme of knowledge sharing, training and workshops in liaison with stakeholders and end users.

By bridging the gap between research and end-user communities and acting as a central point of contact for measurement science activities including the results of related EMPIR projects, the future EMN will provide political stakeholders with a clear overview of the contribution of EURAMET funded research programmes to meet the aims of the zero pollution Action Plan.