International audience | The increasing demand for electric vehicles (EVs) in Europe, coupled with legislative efforts to reduce combustion engine vehicles, has significantly spurred the manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). However, this growth has led to a rapid rise in EV-LIB scrap, from both retired batteries and manufacturing processes, a factor insufficiently addressed in prior research. Our study tackles this issue by assessing the harmonisation of industry projects and examining the recycling facilities' readiness to handle these dual waste streams. We methodically estimate the registrations of new EVs and their anticipated scrap volume, and then project future LIB manufacturing scrap in the EU. Therefore, we assess current and future recycling capacities and evaluate the balance between scrap influx and recycling readiness by 2030. Our findings indicate that the EU is facing a significant recycling challenge. By 2030, about 930 kilotonnes of scrap from the EV-LIB industry will need recycling under the baseline scenario. Although current capacities can handle today's scrap volumes, the disparity between rapidly expanding manufacturing and lagging recycling facilities will result in a shortfall in a few years. Current plans suggest EU recycling facilities will have a capacity of about 785 kilotonnes annually by 2030, which falls short of the dual scrap streams. This research underscores the need for a strategic approach to scale up recycling infrastructure and technology, to emphasise the importance of responsible manufacturing, and to align with the EU's sustainability goals and the growing demands of the EV industry.

Global models estimate that two-thirds of floating ocean plastic has accumulated in coastal areas since the 1950s, with Hawaiʻi's windward shores particularly vulnerable due to their proximity to the North Pacific Garbage Patch. Our quarterly surveys revealed that 91% of recovered plastic particles were buried below the surface (deeper than 2 cm), with most particles being small fragments (93%) ranging from 5.4 to 7.9 mm. This study offers new insights into subsurface plastic pollution, exposing a previously hidden vertical distribution. We observed significant variations in plastic abundance across depths, beaches, and sampling periods, along with a positive correlation between particle size and sand grain size. Additionally, through reconciliation science, we critically reflect on the cultural impacts of our research, emphasizing the importance of aligning plastic pollution studies with local community values and environmental stewardship.

International audience | The intensification of agriculture has promoted the simplification and specialization of agroecosystems, resulting in negative impacts such as decreasing landscape heterogeneity and increasing use of plant protection products (PPP), with the acceleration of PPP transfers to environmental compartments and loss in biodiversity. In this context, the present work reviews the various levers for action promoting the prevention and management of these transfers in the environment and the available modelling tools. Two main categories of levers were identified: (1) better control of the application, including the reduction of doses and of PPP dispersion during application thanks to appropriate equipment and settings, PPP formulations, and consideration of meteorological conditions; (2) reduction of post-application transfers at plot scales (soil cover, low tillage, organic matter management, remediation…) and at landscape scales using either dry (grassed strips, forest, hedgerows, ditches) or wet (ponds, mangroves, stormwater basins) buffer zones. The management of PPP residues leftover in the spray tanks (biobeds) also represents a lever for limiting point-source PPP pollution. Numerous models have been developed to simulate the transfers of PPPs at plot scales. They are scarce for landscape scales. A few are used for regulatory risk assessment. These models could still be improved, for example, if current agricultural practices (e.g. agroecological practices, biopesticides), and their effect on PPP transfers, were better described. If operated alone, none of the levers guarantee a zero risk of PPP transfer. However, if levers are applied in a combined manner, PPP transfers could be more easily limited (agricultural practices, landscape organization...).

International audience | Copper-based plant protection products (PPPs) are widely used in both conventional and organic farming, and to a lesser extent for non-agricultural maintenance of gardens, greenspaces, and infrastructures. The use of copper PPPs adds to environmental contamination by this trace element. This paper aims to review the contribution of these PPPs to the contamination of soils and waters by copper in the context of France (which can be extrapolated to most of the European countries), and the resulting impacts on terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity, as well as on ecosystem functions. It was produced in the framework of a collective scientific assessment on the impacts of PPPs on biodiversity and ecosystem services in France. Current science shows that copper, which persists in soils, can partially transfer to adjacent aquatic environments (surface water and sediment) and ultimately to the marine environment. This widespread contamination impacts biodiversity and ecosystem functions, chiefly through its effects on phototrophic and heterotrophic microbial communities, and terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates. Its effects on other biological groups and biotic interactions remain relatively under-documented.

International audience | Biocontrol solutions (macroorganisms, microorganisms, natural substances, semiochemicals) are presented as potential alternatives to conventional plant protection products (PPPs) because they are supposed to have lower impacts on ecosystems and human health. However, to ensure the sustainability of biocontrol solutions, it is necessary to document the unintended effects of their use. Thus, the objectives of this work were to review (1) the available biocontrol solutions and their regulation, (2) the contamination of the environment (soil, water, air) by biocontrol solutions, (3) the fate of biocontrol solutions in the environment, (4) their ecotoxicological impacts on biodiversity, and (5) the impacts of biocontrol solutions compared to those of conventional PPPs. Very few studies concern the presence of biocontrol solutions in the environment, their fate, and their impacts on biodiversity. The most important number of results were found for the organisms that have been used the longest, and most often from the angle of their interactions with other biocontrol agents. However, the use of living organisms (micro and macroorganisms) in biocontrol brings a specific dimension compared to conventional PPPs because they can survive, multiply, move and colonize other environments. The questioning of regulation stems from this specific dimension of the use of living organisms. Concerning natural substances, the few existing results indicate that while most of them have low ecotoxicity, others have a toxicity equivalent to or greater than that of the conventional PPPs. There are almost no result regarding semiochemicals. Knowledge of the unintended effects of biocontrol solutions has proved to be very incomplete. Research remains necessary to ensure their sustainability.

International audience | Plant protection products (PPPs) have historically been one of the classes of chemical compounds at the frontline of raising scientific and public awareness of the global nature of environmental pollution and the role of trophic interactions in shaping the impacts of chemicals on ecosystems. Despite increasingly strong regulatory measures since the 1970s designed to avoid unintentional effects of PPPs, their use is now recognised as a driver of biodiversity erosion. The French Ministries for the Environment, Agriculture and Research commissioned a collective scientific assessment to synthesise the current science and knowledge on the impacts of PPPs on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Here we report a literature review of the state of knowledge on the propagation of PPP residues and the effects of PPPs in food webs, including biopesticides, with a focus on current-use PPPs. Currently used PPPs may be stronger drivers of the current biodiversity loss than the banned compounds no longer in use, and there have been far fewer reviews on current-use PPPs than legacy PPPs. We first provide a detailed overview of the transfer and propagation of effects of PPPs through trophic interactions in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. We then review cross-ecosystem trophic paths of PPP propagation, and provide insight on the role of trophic interactions in the impacts of PPPs on ecological functions. We conclude with a summary of the available knowledge and the perspectives for tackling the main gaps, and address areas that warrant further research and pathways to advancing environmental risk assessment.

International audience | Plant protection products (PPP) are extensively used to protect plants against harmful organisms, but they also have unintended effects on non-target organisms, especially terrestrial invertebrates. The impact of PPP on ecosystem functions provided by these non-target invertebrates remains, however, unclear. The objectives of this article were to review PPP impacts on the ecosystem functions provided by pollinators, predators and parasitoids, and soil organisms; and to identify the factors that aggravate or mitigate PPP effects. The literature highlights that PPP alter several ecosystem functions: provision and maintenance of biodiversity, pollination, biotic interactions and habitat completeness in terrestrial ecosystems, and organic matter and soil structure dynamics. However, there are still a few studies dealing with ecosystem functions, with sometimes contradictory results, and consequences on agricultural provisioning services remain unclear. The model organisms used to assess PPP ecotoxicological effects are still limited, and should be expanded to better cover the wide functional diversity of terrestrial invertebrates. Data are lacking on PPP sublethal, transgenerational and “cocktail” effects, and on their multitrophic consequences. In empirical assessments, studies on PPP unintended effects should consider agricultural-pedoclimatic contexts because they influence the responses of non-target organisms and associated ecosystem functions to PPP. Modeling might be a promising way to account for the complex interactions among PPP mixtures, biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.

International audience

Since 2011, massive strandings of holopelagic Sargassum have occurred on the coasts of the Caribbean and of West Africa. Although open ocean Sargassum mats are oases of biodiversity, their stranding has a number of negative ecological, economic and health consequences. To limit these impacts, Sargassum needs to be collected as quickly as possible to avoid its decomposition, which requires accurate predictions of the date, location and abundance of the strandings. Two complementary approaches have been developed for this purpose: satellite remote sensing technique, to detect Sargassum aggregations, and modeling, to forecast Sargassum displacement and growth. The objective of this review is to provide a synthesis of the current knowledge related to Sargassum monitoring in the tropical Atlantic Ocean. To better understand the issues surrounding Sargassum and its monitoring, the first two parts are devoted to an overview of the ecology of the two most prevailing holopelagic Sargassum species, to the current issues related to their strandings, to the causes of their occurrence in the tropical Atlantic Ocean and to their seasonal and interannual variabilities. The methods used to detect Sargassum from satellite images and their limitations are examined. The transport and biogeochemical models developed for seasonal forecast and stranding predictions are described along with their limitations. As both detection and modeling rely on validation data to assess their accuracy, previous works providing in situ characterization of Sargassum are also reviewed here. The last part provides recommendations to further increase knowledge on holopelagic Sargassum and improve the predictions of their strandings.