Healthy soils are key to securing Europe's food, water, climate and biodiversity. Yet more than 60% of soils in the EU remain unhealthy, and the scientific knowledge that could help reverse the trend rarely reaches the people who write policy.
In the beginning of October, 15 partners from 10 European countries met in Nancy, France for the kick-off of PSOILICY, a new EU-funded project that will build the interfaces, hubs and tools needed to turn soil knowledge into evidence-based decisions.
The knowledge already exists
Europe has a very high level of scientific knowledge of soils. The challenge is making it easy to use in policy. Today, the places where soil science meets policymaking remain scattered. Responsibilities are split across governance levels, agriculture, forestry, urban planning and environment often work in separate silos, and data, protocols and indicators are poorly har-monised.
“There is very abundant knowledge on soils, on soil health, on soil functioning and on eco-system services. But it is not yet fully accessible, and it is not always adapted to policymak-ers,” said Christophe Schwartz, professor of urban soil science at Université de Lorraine (La-boratoire Sols et Environnement) and president of the INRAE Grand Est research center, who coordinates PSOILICY together with Marion Bardy, INRAE's Director of Public Policy Support.
“We want to create the conditions for better, easier and timely access to policy-relevant sci-ence for decisionmakers.”
With the EU Soil Monitoring Law providing a political framework at EU level, it is key that robust science informs the decisions taken across Europe. PSOILICY aims to respond with one coordinated approach, from evidence to decision.
Implementation is where the difference is made
The kick-off meeting took place on 7–9 October 2026 at the Université de Lorraine campus in Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy, hosted by PSOILICY coordinator INRAE. After welcomes from Université de Lorraine and INRAE, a roundtable on policy and the Mission Soil brought together representatives of the European Commission's DG ENV and DG AGRI and the French Ministry for the Environment.
Luis Sanchez Alvarez, Head of Sector in the Research and Innovation unit of the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development, coordinates the team that manages the Mission Soil and is the Commission's policy officer for PSOILICY.
He attended in person to underline the importance of the project. He sees PSOILICY at the interface between the EU level and the Member States, working in both directions. “We think PSOILICY can really be the interface. It can help us transmit information from the mission results to the Member States to support the implementation of the Soil Monitoring Law, the Common Agricultural Policy and other soil-related policies. But we also want these hubs to actively help implement the Mission’s objectives and to help gather all the knowledge, infor-mation and experience they are producing” he said. “We really want to have strong hubs in all Member States.” Today, he noted, many existing national soil groups lack official recog-nition, resources and political support.
For France, Lionel Loulin, deputy head of the research and innovation department at the French Ministry for the Environment, described the project as “very timely” and stressed that its work will be useful well beyond the Soil Monitoring Law.
Two-way dialogue from day one
A common thread through the opening session was that the dialogue must run both ways. “Preserving or restoring healthy soils requires the development of science–policy interfaces - in both directions between science and policy, not only from science to policy,” said Chris-tophe Schwartz.
Partners also drew lessons from existing science–policy mechanisms, including the EU Sci-ence Service for Biodiversity. Over the following two days, they kick-started the project's
work packages, mapped how the different strands of work connect, held the first General Assembly and agreed a roadmap for the project's first eight months.
From stocktaking to working tools
Over the next 42 months, PSOILICY will move through three phases: building common ground until month 8, prototyping the key results until month 23, and consolidating and delivering them by the end of the project.
The project will assess interfaces through which soil science reaches policy in more than 20 EU countries, support the creation of Soil Health National Hubs and connect them in an EU-wide network. Multi-stakeholder Soil Health Policy Labs – starting with tests in Austria, Denmark, France and Italy – will give policymakers, scientists and practitioners a space to co-design and test new approaches. PSOILICY will also co-design a Knowledge Exchange Network, develop an AI-enabled Policy Guidance Platform, and explore options for a future European Science Service for Soil Health.
PSOILICY is coordinated by INRAE and funded with almost €6 million under the Horizon Europe Mission “A Soil Deal for Europe”. By putting the necessary knowledge, tools and governance structures in place, the project aims to accelerate progress towards the EU's goal of 75% healthy or improving soils by 2030.
Map and strengthen science–policy interfaces – assess the strengths, gaps and needs of soil health science–policy interfaces in more than 20 EU countries, and share what works.
Build Soil Health National Hubs – support the creation of new national hubs, strengthen existing ones and connect them in an EU-wide network.
Test ideas in Soil Health Policy Labs – bring policymakers, scientists and practitioners together to co-design and test policy approaches, starting in Austria, Denmark, France and Italy.
Create a Knowledge Exchange Network – a self-sustaining community for continuous dialogue, exchange and collaborative problem-solving on soil health.
Develop a Policy Guidance Platform – an AI-enabled digital platform that makes soil knowledge, data and policy documents easy to find and use.
Explore a European Science Service for Soil Health – identify, test and refine options for a central entry point for policy-support requests.
Support the Soil Monitoring Law – help the European Commission, Member States and stakeholders turn the law into concrete, evidence-based action.
Read more about the project and the partners here.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme, under Grant Agreement: 101296560.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.