Last week, our PhD student Veronika Schlosser represented the group at the 26th SETAC Europe Annual Meeting. 

Focus on environmental impacts, LCA, and ecotoxicology

The conference in Maastricht brought together experts working on environmental impacts, life cycle assessment and ecotoxicology. For SAFAS, it was an opportunity to connect ongoing research on food and agricultural systems with broader debates on sustainability metrics and policy‑relevant assessment tools.

Beyond the scientific sessions, the event offered valuable exchanges with both familiar and new faces from the international research community.

📍Our contributions included: 

• Research on land‑use intensification and biodiversity loss

  In one presentation, Veronika Schlosser shared new results from her PhD project on land‑use intensification and biodiversity loss. The study shows that biodiversity loss in recent decades has become increasingly concentrated in specific regions and associated with particular crop types. These findings suggest that targeted conservation measures in hotspot areas could be an effective strategy to mitigate biodiversity decline.

• Pricing scenarios for carbon and biodiversity in EU supply chains

  A second contribution presented ongoing SAFAS work on carbon‑ and biodiversity‑pricing scenarios for EU supply chains. The research explores how pricing commodities according to their environmental footprint can influence supply‑chain decisions. Initial results indicate that internalizing environmental costs could unlock substantial mitigation potential and support more sustainable production pathways.

The conference provided opportunities for discussions with researchers from across Europe and beyond. These exchanges were wonderful for advancing methodological development and strengthening collaborations.

Our insights gained at SETAC Europe 2026 will feed into ongoing SAFAS research on biodiversity impacts, sustainability assessment, and policy‑relevant evaluation tools. We look forward to continuing these collaborations and contributing to the scientific dialogue on sustainable food and agricultural systems.