The ENSOr v6 Conference (Brussels, Oct 2025), themed “Managing Emerging Contaminants for Healthy Soils – Are We Ready?!”, gathered European experts from science, policy, and industry to tackle the growing challenge of PFAS and other emerging soil pollutants. Discussions focused on new remediation technologies, evolving regulatory trigger values, monitoring strategies under the upcoming EU Soil Law, and cost–benefit approaches to pollution management.  

While clear progress was made—especially in technical innovations and collaborative efforts—the event also emphasised Europe’s growing momentum towards readiness, with ongoing opportunities to further harmonise regulation, enhance data availability, and expand implementation at scale. 

The conference was a mixture of plenary presentations (talks), interactive workshops and networking moments. 

Major themes 

These are the recurring threads across the different sessions of the conference: 

1. PFAS (per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances): Inevitably, many talks dealt with PFAS: from cost-benefit analysis for PFAS management in Flanders, to regulatory trigger values in different countries (Netherlands, Austria, Belgium). Also studies on remediation approaches for PFAS soil contamination (thermal remediation etc) were presented. 

2. Policy / Regulation & Trigger Values: Other presentations focussed on how environmental quality standards (EQS) are being proposed or revised; how risk-based or cost-oriented regulation might be adapted. Different national approaches were presented (Netherlands, Austria, Wallonia (Belgium)). 

3. Monitoring & Risk Assessment: Developed and implemented methods for detecting emerging contaminants or building frameworks to pick priority substances were discussed. Workshops on soil monitoring under the upcoming European Soil Monitoring Law, or establishing contaminant watch lists were undertaken.  

4. Remediation / Treatment Technologies & Pilot Studies: During the pitch-session innovative remediation methods (e.g. thermal remediation, activated carbon use, in-situ stabilization using organo-clay) and pilot-scale experiments (e.g. thermal PFAS remediation at scale) were presented. 

5. Emerging Contaminants beyond PFAS: Though PFAS is a dominant focus, there were also sessions on non-regulated pesticides, tyre dust and other contaminants with a focus on general contaminant prioritization for monitoring.  

Below are some particularly notable sessions, and what they suggest about the readiness to manage emerging contaminants. 

Notable Talks & Findings 

• Societal cost-benefit analysis for PFAS in soil and groundwater (Flanders): This talk addressed how to weigh environmental and human health benefits vs. economic cost of remediation or regulation. The study demonstrates that managing PFAS isn’t just a scientific challenge, but involves socio-economic trade-offs.  

• Emerging contaminants — revising trigger values in Austria: Austria is updating its operational trigger values for soil & groundwater, including PFAS and lead. This raises questions of how strict limits should be, and how to deal with legal or technical feasibility. 

• Approach for soil research to non-regulated pesticides: Developing a framework to identify non-regulated pesticide substances that may pose future risk and selecting “priority substances” for monitoring or investigation are key findings of this workshop. An opportunity arises to build a Community of Practice (CoP) around these substances. 

• Soil Monitoring in Transition: Prioritising what to measure: With future EU-level soil monitoring law, a need to define which emerging contaminants should be on watch lists, prioritization criteria (toxicity, persistence, mobility), and balancing analytical feasibility vs environmental urgency need to be addressed.  

• Impact of trigger values – the cost of action versus inaction: The workshop discussed that setting trigger (regulatory) values involves trade-offs: protecting health / environment vs. financial / practical cost burden. 

• Collaborating on Emerging Contaminants: how can EmConSoil contribute? This workshop discussed about EmConSoil’s role as facilitator: strengthening stakeholder collaboration (regulators, scientists, remediation industry) to coordinate more effectively across regions. 

Take-Away Messages & “Are We Ready?” 

From the program, several conclusions can be drawn about readiness to manage emerging contaminants: 

• Technical readiness is advancing: New methods to address PFAS and other emerging contaminants in soil are being developed and tested (thermal remediation; organo-clay stabilization; advanced monitoring tools like isotope-flux sampling) and analytical frameworks are expanding (e.g. considering PFAS precursors, non-regulated substances). 

• Regulatory / Policy readiness is in flux: Trigger values & environmental standards are being updated or proposed, but there is tension between ambitious targets (precautionary) and practicality / cost effectiveness. Different countries are at different stages — lessons can be shared, but alignment remains challenging. 

• Cross-stakeholder collaboration is recognized as necessary: Workshops emphasize stakeholder dialogue, building Communities of Practice, aligning scientists / policy makers / practitioners. EmConSoil is positioning itself as a platform to support that. 

• Remaining challenges include: 

  • Balancing costs vs benefits (economic, societal) of remediation or stricter regulation. 

  • Data gaps in exposure, fate / transport of emerging substances (precursors, mixtures). 

  • The scale and feasibility of remediation techniques at field-scale (beyond pilot). 

  • Harmonization across jurisdictions and ensuring monitoring / enforcement capacity.

Outlook 

EmConSoil network, through it’s ENSOr v6 conference, created both a forum for sharing cutting-edge research and a bridge toward policy / practice change. It asks “Are we ready?” not rhetorically, but practically — by exposing readiness gaps and offering collaborative routes forward. Participants leave with new technical ideas, policy insights, and strengthened networks to help advance emerging contaminant management in soils in Europe. 

All presentation from this event are available here.