News

On July 10, 1976, the Seveso accident marked a turning point in industrial risk prevention in Europe. Fifty years later, its legacy remains at the heart of the Seveso Directives, which govern the operation of major-hazard facilities. In this context, INERIS supports public authorities and industry stakeholders in anticipating, preventing, monitoring, and managing these risks, with the aim of protecting the public, the environment, and industrial development.

The European Copernicus program, through its Atmospheric Monitoring Service (CAMS), regularly publishes reports on air quality in Europe. The reference report for the year 2023 has just been released by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. INERIS, which coordinates the service dedicated to supporting public policy*, served as the lead author.

Ineris coordinated a European study aimed at shedding light on issues related to ozone, a pollutant with complex formation mechanisms. Conducted as part of the European Thematic Center on Human Health and the Environment, the study was published on Thursday, April 30, 2026, by the European Environment Agency (EEA). Particular attention is given to the analysis of precursor gases for ozone formation, for which monitoring will be strengthened under the new European directive on ambient air quality. The ultimate goal is to support the development of effective air quality plans to reduce ozone levels.

On January 22, 2026, the kickoff meeting for the Persée project was held. The project is funded by ANSES as part of the Environment-Health-Work Research Call for Proposals (APR EST, No. 25-EST-178).
This event brought together all of the project’s scientific partners: UMR EPOC 5805 CNRS, UMR ECosys INRAE, and IBACON (Germany). The Persée project aims to develop a new methodological approach (NAM) to improve the ecotoxicological assessment of persistent substances. These compounds, characterized by their high stability in the environment, pose major challenges for risk assessment, particularly due to their potential long-term effects.

Ineris and the Ministry for Ecological Transition, Biodiversity and International Negotiations on Climate and Nature unveil the Institute's new objectives and performance contract (COP) for the period 2026-2030. Signed on 22 December 2025, this strategic document sets out a roadmap for securing the major challenges of ecological transition and industrial transformation.

Ineris has just published the results of its research on endocrine disruptors affecting metabolism in the journal Environment International. This research was carried out as part of the European OBERON project, which aims to study the impact of pollutants on metabolic disorders in humans (diabetes, obesity), the incidence of which is increasing significantly in industrialised countries.

The results of an unprecedented study conducted at 43 European measurement sites and published on 22 October 2025 in Nature reveal that the ability of airborne particulate matter to cause oxidative stress in the lungs varies depending on the type of environment (urban, rural, industrial, etc.) and the sources of emissions.

Ineris attended the European Environment Agency (EEA) meeting on October 1 and 2, 2025, in Copenhagen to present its work on ambient air quality carried out as part of the thematic center dedicated to human health and the environment (ETC Human health and the environment (ETC HE) — Eionet Portal (europa.eu)).

The kick-off meeting for the European MEMO (Methane Monitoring of Abandoned Coal Mines) project, in which INERIS is a partner, will be held on October 15 in Ostrava (Czech Republic).

Ineris organizes an inter-laboratory comparison (ILC) on the 49 semi-volatile PFAS substances listed in the french standard XP X43-126 and in the EPA method OTM-45.