The Soils for Europe Conference took place in Coimbra, Portugal, from 7 to 11 September 2026, bringing together about 500 participants for five days dedicated to the future of Europe’s soils.
Organised by the Horizon Europe project SOLO (Soils for Europe) together with almost 40 co-organising projects, the conference served as a meeting point for the wider community working under the EU Mission “A Soil Deal for Europe” (Mission Soil).
The conference opened with contributions from representatives of the European Commission and Martin Hojsík, Vice-President of the European Parliament, setting the tone for a week focused on turning scientific knowledge into evidence-based policy and practice.
The conference comes at a pivotal time. The European Commission estimates that 60 to 70% of soils in the EU are currently unhealthy due to pressures such as erosion, pollution, sealing, loss of organic carbon, and biodiversity decline.
At the same time, the policy landscape is changing rapidly. The Directive on Soil Monitoring and Resilience, the EU’s first dedicated legislation on soil health, entered into force in December 2025, giving Member States three years to transpose it into national law. Meanwhile, negotiations on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for 2028 to 2034 are underway, shaping the main policy and financial framework that supports farmers in the EU.
The conference was a chance to look at what Mission Soil has delivered so far, and how those results can now be put into practice.
Structured around the eight objectives of Mission Soil, the programme combined scientific sessions with policy debates, hands-on workshops, roundtables, a World Café, co-creation sessions and even a culinary performance. Topics ranged from soil organic carbon, biodiversity, erosion, pollution and soil sealing to soil monitoring, data harmonisation, desertification, soil literacy and the EU’s global soil footprint.
Highlights of the week included:
- The official launch of the Soil Data Catalogue, a key Mission Soil output developed by the SoilWise project in collaboration with the EU Soil Observatory (EUSO), designed to connect soil data across Europe and make it findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable.
- The EUSO Forum, where Mission Soil projects presented key insights from five years of the programme and discussed their contribution to EU soil policies.
- A policy session on the CAP and soil health, organised by SOLO with PAN Europe and the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), bringing together the European Commission, researchers, farmers and advisory services to develop recommendations on how the future CAP can support the Mission Soil objectives.
- A Project Fair at the Botanical Garden of Coimbra, where co-organising projects and Living Labs presented their work through interactive activities, including a soil ecoacoustics workshop, sensory soil activities, the Soil Collage (La Fresque du Sol) game and a farmers’ market, organised by Agroecology Europe.
- Around 150 posters were presented across three poster sessions.
- The Soil Banquet, a participatory culinary performance in which 40 participants built and tasted an “edible landscape” made with ingredients sourced locally around Coimbra, translating soil science into a shared sensory experience.
As lead organiser, SOLO used the conference to open its own work to discussion and feedback from the wider community.
In an open co-creation session, participants reviewed SOLO’s nine transdisciplinary research and innovation roadmaps, covering the eight Mission Soil objectives plus an additional roadmap on the nature conservation of soil biodiversity. Working in interactive groups, participants discussed the knowledge gaps, actions and bottlenecks identified over the past three years. Their feedback will be integrated into the roadmaps, which are intended to inform the European research and innovation agenda for soil health.
SOLO also presented a pilot set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), developed with the Mission Soil Board, to capture the longer-term impact of Mission Soil projects, such as raising awareness, influencing decisions and supporting the uptake of sustainable soil management practices. In addition, SOLO’s Think Tank on the EU soil footprint outlined a strategic pathway to reduce the EU’s global soil impact, addressing the effects of European consumption and imports on soils beyond the EU’s borders.
“What we aim to have as an impact is connecting people, connecting projects,” said Dr Carlos António Guerra, project coordinator of SOLO. “Making sure that we have the highest priorities at the top of the list in terms of what is missing, in terms of information, innovation and science.”
The Soils for Europe Conference was co-organised with the kind support of:
The EU Mission “A Soil Deal for Europe” is one of five EU Missions launched under Horizon Europe
Its goal is to lead the transition towards healthy soils by 2030, through the establishment of 100 Living Labs and Lighthouses that test and demonstrate solutions in real-life conditions, alongside an ambitious research and innovation programme, a harmonised framework for soil monitoring in Europe, and actions to raise awareness of the vital importance of soils.
The Mission is built around eight objectives:
- Reduce desertification
- Conserve soil organic carbon stocks
- Stop soil sealing and increase the reuse of urban soils
- Reduce soil pollution and enhance restoration
- Prevent erosion
- Improve soil structure to enhance soil biodiversity
- Reduce the EU global footprint on soils
- Increase soil literacy in society
