Science for Environment Policy (SfEP) is a free news and information service published by the Directorate-General for Environment (DG ENV) of the European Commission. It is designed to help busy policymakers keep up-to-date with the latest environmental research findings needed to design, implement and regulate effective policies.
Our News alert articles and Future Briefs are freely accessible through this site. To access SfEP content published between 2005 and June 2022, please consult the dedicated archive.
News Alerts
The bi-weekly News Alerts are a cornerstone of the SfEP service. Presented in concise and easy-to-understand newsletter articles, SfEP brings the latest updates on key environmental research right into your inbox.
Future Briefs
SfEP also releases regular Future Briefs on the latest environmental topics, such as new technologies and innovations and their impact on the environment. Future Briefs are a series of horizon-scanning policy briefs, which explore the evidence around emerging environmental issues.
News Alerts
Managing Megafires: an experiment in participatory governance yields new management strategies
Issue 612: This study explores participatory fire-management strategies, including landscape values from experts and local people, to strengthen wildfire-prone regions by creating resilient landscapes that protect ecological and social functions.
Researchers find landscape features around reserves are key to increasing freshwater-reliant species diversity
Issue 612: Species that rely on freshwater habitat are declining in Europe. This study finds that biodiversity within smaller sites in the European Natura 2000 network is highly impacted by the land use of surrounding areas.
Marine plastic: new method for choosing the best clean-up technologies
Issue 612: Researchers have developed a framework for evaluating technologies that reduce marine plastic pollution.
Copper from industrial pollution increases antibiotic resistance in forest floor soil bacteria
Issue 611: Industrial heavy metal pollution in a Swedish forest induces resistance to metals in soil microbial communities, but also to tetracycline antibiotics, a new study concludes.
Future Briefs
FUTURE BRIEF: Light Pollution: Mitigation measures for environmental protection – Issue 28
This Brief focusses on the lighting design adaptations and mitigation measures tailored for sensitive habitats and taxa. It also highlights ongoing efforts by local governments and communities to address Artificial Light at Night pollution (ALAN).
FUTURE BRIEF: Nanoplastics: state of knowledge and environmental and human health impacts – Issue 27
This Future Brief presents the current science on nanoplastics: their detection, assessment and monitoring; their impacts in the environment, ecotoxicity, and environmental fate; and their potential impacts on human health.
FUTURE BRIEF: COVID-19 and the environment: links, impacts and lessons learned – Issue 26
This brief looks at environmental factors that potentially contribute to the emergence of disease and the effects of COVID-19, and environmental impacts that have arisen from COVID-19.
Contact Us
Science for Environment Policy (SfEP) is a European Commission initiative. The secretariat is currently run by Ecorys.
For comments, questions or requests on this service, please contact us at ENV-SFEP
ec [dot] europa [dot] eu (ENV-SFEP[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu).
To get in touch with the researchers, please refer to the Source section indicated under each News Alert article.