The ONE-BLUE Project, a European Union-funded initiative under the Horizon Europe programme, is making significant strides in understanding and mitigating the impact of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) on marine health and biodiversity, particularly in the context of climate change. With over 100,000 chemicals registered in the EU and 30,000–70,000 used daily, many of which end up in the ocean, there is an urgent need to assess their levels and combined impacts with climate change in the ocean. Marine ecosystems face unprecedented threats from CECs and climate change. In this context, the EU-funded ONE-BLUE project aims to deepen our understanding and increase mitigation efforts. Conducting case studies in the Atlantic, Arctic, and Mediterranean, ONE-BLUE seeks to enhance knowledge on CEC concentrations and effects. Through controlled experiments, the project examines interactions between climate change and CECs in marine mesocosms
ONE-BLUE brings together over 100 researchers from 20 research groups across 18 institutions in 11 European countries. This multidisciplinary team includes experts in fields such as marine biogeochemistry, toxicology, microbiology, and environmental sciences. Their collective expertise is crucial for developing innovative solutions to monitor and mitigate the effects of CECs on marine ecosystems. The project has recently completed sampling campaigns in the Irish Sea and the northern Adriatic Sea, collecting valuable data on CEC concentrations and their effects on marine life. These efforts are part of a broader strategy to improve current knowledge of these pollutants in the Atlantic Ocean, one of the three ONE-BLUE’s study cases. Looking ahead, ONE-BLUE plans to conduct additional sampling campaigns and controlled experiments in marine mesocosms to further investigate the interactions between climate change and CECs.
Venthic Technologies is the key partner in the development of new data science technologies and methodologies for monitoring contaminants of emerging concern, including the creation of a comprehensive database called CECsMarineDB to store and manage project data, aiding exploration and analysis.
For more information about the ONE-BLUE Project and its ongoing efforts to protect marine ecosystems, please visit the official website at https://one-blue.eu/.