LIFE25 Welcome Meeting
Circular Economy and Quality of Life
Thematic Session: 21 October 2026
Comet Meetings Louise, Place Stéphanie 20, 1050 Brussels
Thematic Session: 21 October 2026
Comet Meetings Louise, Place Stéphanie 20, 1050 Brussels
| Time | Topic / Content | Speaker |
|---|---|---|
| 08:30 – 09:15 | Registration of participants & Networking breakfast (Rooftop, 7th floor) | |
| 09:15 – 09:25 | Join the plenary room (6.4, 6th floor) | |
| 09:25 – 09:30 | Welcome to the LIFE Programme | Fabio Leone (CINEA) |
| 09:30 – 09:50 | Key reminders to start well your projects | César Seoánez (CINEA) |
| 09:50 – 10:30 | Succeeding as LIFE coordinators – Insights from project coordinators with prior LIFE experience, including Q&A |
Emilio Benfenati, Institute of Pharmacological Research “Mario Negri” - Project LIFE25-ENV-IT-HURRA-LIFE David Burrueco-Subirà, CETAQUA, Water Technology Centre - Project LIFE25-ENV-ES-LIFE-4EVER Leonie Grob, Flanders Environment Agency - Project LIFE25-ENV-BE-LIFE RESHAPE-D |
| 10:30 – 10:45 |
Meet your Project Adviser & Financial Officer Instructions for the Thematic group sessions |
Fabio Leone (CINEA) Theoharis Tziovaras (ELMEN) |
| 10:45 – 10:55 |
Moving to Break-out rooms – see project distribution in Annex at the bottom Water group (Room 5.3): Malgorzata Piecha and Federico De Filippi (CINEA); Sophia Papageorgiou (ELMEN) Chemicals, Air, Sustainable Governance group (Room 5.2): Manuel Montero-Ramirez & Mario Lionetti (CINEA); Josefa Diamantopoulos (ELMEN) Circular Economy 1 (stay in Room 6.4): César Seoánez (CINEA); Christina Rauls (ELMEN) Circular Economy 2 (stay in Room 6.4): Michel Quicheron (CINEA); Borja Domínguez (ELMEN) |
|
|
10:55 – 11:25 (all groups except Chemicals, Air, Sustainable Governance)
10:55 – 12:30 (Chemicals, Air, Sustainable Governance, with break below) |
Policy context and latest developments per thematic group - Q&A Delivered by DG ENV representatives |
Water group: Helge Elisabeth ZEITLER (DG ENV Unit C.2 - Marine Environment And Clean Water Services), and Paulus Arnoldus (DG ENV Unit C.1 - Sustainable Freshwater Management) Circular Economy (both groups): Vincenzo Gente (DG ENV, Unit B.3 - Circular Economy & Secondary Raw Materials) Chemicals, Air, Sustainable Governance groups:
|
| 11:25 – 12:00 | Coffee break – Networking & meet your Project Adviser | |
|
Groups CE-1 and CE-2 separate into different rooms: Circular Economy 1 group moves to Room 5.5 Circular Economy 2 group stays in Room 6.4 |
||
|
12:00 – 13:30 (all groups except Chemicals, Air, Sustainable Governance)
12:30 – 13:30 (Chemicals, Air, Sustainable Governance) |
Thematic group discussions | Project's presentations and discussion (see below) |
| 13:30 – 14:30 | Networking lunch (6th floor) | |
| 14:30 – 17:30 |
Thematic Group discussions (cont.) & Financial questions session – to address any pending/unresolved question When this session finishes, project representatives are free to stay in COMET until 18:00 to further network with CINEA staff and other projects |
|
ANNEX: PROJECT ALLOCATION TO THEMATIC GROUPS
WORKING GROUP Water – 5th floor, Room 5.3
Facilitators:
CINEA Project Advisers: Malgorzata Piecha and Federico De Filippi
ELMEN Technical Monitor: Sophia Papageorgiou
| Project reference and title | Speaker(s) |
|---|---|
|
LIFE25-TAR-PT-LIFE ReFitting ReFitting the PLAN-DO toolbox for wider replication under the new EU wastewater directive |
Rui Viegas, Catarina Silva |
|
LIFE25-ENV-ES-LIFE 4EVER Innovative cost-effective quaternary wastewater treatment for EU urban wastewater treatment directive compliance and water reuse |
David Burrueco |
|
LIFE25-ENV-IT-LIFE NEOPHYTA ReusiNg and rEcycling biOmass ashes to remove PFAS, biocides and other toxic chemicals from water to complement PHYtoremediaTion plAnts |
Davide Tampieri |
|
LIFE25-ENV-BE-LIFEDESTINY DEmonstration of Sustainable Technologies for INnovative PFAS remediation strategY |
Félix Jaumaux |
|
LIFE25-ENV-ES-LIFE BIOWET An innovate two-stage Nature-Based Solution for Optimization Leachate Reuse, Water Quality Compliance and Biodiversity Enhancement in European Greenhouse Agriculture |
Rosa Gómez Cerezo |
|
LIFE25-ENV-FI-MINERVA Closing the Loop in Arctic Mining: Multi-Commodity Recovery, Sustainable Tailings Management and Zero Chemical Water Treatment |
Jasmine Leiman |
|
LIFE25-GIE-ES-GOV-KIDS Collaborative Environmental Governance and Children and Citizen Education for Sustainable Water Use |
Anna López |
|
LIFE25-ENV-BE-LIFE RESHAPE-D Restore the Sponge Landscape and Hydrological System through Partnership and Engagement in the Dender Valley |
Liesl Vanautgaerden |
|
LIFE25-PRE-DE-LIFE C-SWIM Rhine LIFE Climate-proof pollution Spread and Warning International Model for the Rhine |
Marc Daniel Heintz |
|
LIFE25-ENV-SE-LIFE QuietWaters Towards regionally coordinated actions to reduce underwater noise emissions from existing and future recreational crafts in the Baltic Sea |
Andrea Cervantes |
|
LIFE24-IPE-FI-ACWA LIFE Actions for Waters - from Source to Sea |
Helena Puro |
|
LIFE24-IPE-EL-LIFE SIP GR Blue Integrated approach for the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive in Greece |
Katerina Stylogianni |
WORKING GROUP Chemicals, Air, Sustainable Governance – 5th floor, Room 5.2
Facilitators:
CINEA Project Advisers: Manuel Montero Ramírez and Mario Lionetti
ELMEN Technical Monitor: Josefa Diamantopoulos
| Project reference and title | Speaker(s) |
|---|---|
|
LIFE25-ENV-IT-HURRA-LIFE Harmonizing the approach used in the European Union to perform and Report Read-Across: a LIFE project |
Emilio Benfenati |
|
LIFE25-ENV-IT-LIFE STRUVITE Innovative natural soil amendment and fertilizer made by N-enriched zeolite and struvite based on the treatment of slurries with a high nutrient (especially N) content |
Zsofia Jobbagy |
|
LIFE25-GIE-DE-LIFE MUMs LIFE Minimising Unseen Molecules (MUMs) to protect pregnant and reproductive-aged women from endocrinedisrupting chemicals (EDCs) for todays' and future generations health |
Lars Bulanov, Karolina Brabcova |
|
LIFE25-TAR-EL-LIFE SAFER-ELD Systematic Assessment for Financial and Environmental Risks for ELD implementation |
Stavroula Pouli |
|
LIFE25-GIE-ES-BasquESG VSME-Aligned Governance & Independent Verification to Accelerate the Green Transition of Basque SMEs |
Gorane Ibarra |
|
LIFE25-GIE-NL-SEED Scalable European infrastructure for Environmental Due diligence and compliance |
Nick Hogervorst |
|
LIFE25-ENV-SK-LIFE ECOPRESSURE Improving Air Quality with Advanced Tyre Inflation Technology |
Roland Grijpma |
|
LIFE25-ENV-IT-LIFE X-TRON Tractor Rover for Orchard and Vineyard Nurturing |
Roberto Pini |
WORKING GROUP Circular Economy 1 – 5th floor, Room 5.5
Facilitators:
CINEA Project Adviser: César Seoánez
ELMEN Technical Monitor: Christina Rauls
| Project reference and title | Speaker |
|---|---|
|
LIFE25-ENV-IT-LIFE REGRAPH Recycled Graphite for High-Value Applications |
Elena Wiget |
|
LIFE25-ENV-IT-LIFE-INGOTEC INGOT TEChnology for Circular Economy and Recycling Steel |
Cosmo Di Cecca |
|
LIFE25-ENV-IT-LIFE ARIADNE Upcycling and Industrial Re-Utilisation of Recycled Carbon Fibres in High-Performance Applications |
Niccolo Pini |
|
LIFE25-ENV-SE-LIFE-NEXTEX Turning End-of-Life Textiles into Next-Generation Materials |
Varvara Apostolopoulou Kalkavoura |
|
LIFE25-ENV-ES-DPP-TEX Digital Product Passport for TEXtile circularity and traceability |
Denisa Gibovic |
|
LIFE24-IPE-NL-CEL4LIFE Circular Economy Limburg 4 LIFE: Ready for a Circular Future |
Harma Albering |
|
LIFE25-PRE-BE-SP4L SustainableProducts4LIFE |
Kim-Mai Hoang |
|
LIFE25-ENV-FR-LIFE-CIRCULAR_PV Reducing waste in the photovoltaic industry by boosting reuse through repaired PV modules |
Luc Federzoni |
|
LIFE25-PRE-PT-LIFE ECOFORCE Environmental Crime Directive - Operational Framework for Optimised Response and Compliance Enforcement |
Ana Vieira da Silva |
WORKING GROUP Circular Economy 2 – 6th floor, Room 6.4
Facilitators:
CINEA Project Adviser: Michel Quicheron
ELMEN Technical Monitor: Borja Domínguez
| Project reference and title | Speaker |
|---|---|
|
LIFE25-ENV-NL-LIFE Waterhub LIFE Afvalwater Hub – Flexible pretreatment installation for local and sustainable processing of port waste streams |
Frank Cammaert |
|
LIFE25-ENV-ES-LIFE GREENWAT Real scale implementation of an environmentally friendly technology based on a natural polymer for industrial and urban wastewater treatment, increasing biogas production of sludge anaerobic digestion |
Jose F. Cabeza |
|
LIFE24-IPE-PT-LIFE IP AGRILOOP LIFE IP AGRILOOP |
Ricardo Santos |
|
LIFE25-ENV-CZ-LIFE4FARMS Innovative nature-based solutions for the elimination of nutrients and veterinary pharmaceuticals from livestock agricultural runoff |
Miroslav Cernik |
|
LIFE25-ENV-BE-RENU-AGRI Reducing Nutrient Losses from Agriculture |
Charlotte Boeckaert |
|
LIFE25-ENV-FI-VOLARE TURNKEY Scaling Affordable Insect Factories in Europe with a Turnkey Biowaste-to-Protein Technology Platform |
Marko Rintanen |
|
LIFE25-ENV-ES-CIVIC Circular Incentives via Verified Individual packaging Classification |
Jordi Berguinzo Martinez |
|
LIFE25-ENV-FI-ICELIFE ReStyle, RePair, ReUse! – Inclusive Circular Ecosystems for Regenerative Districts |
Harri Auvinen |
|
LIFE25-PRE-ES-CircularLIFE4Furn Empowering EU Furniture & Furnishings Companies to Mainstream Circular Business Models |
Julio Rodrigo |
|
LIFE25-ENV-DK-LIFE FIBRA Driving circularity and resilience in forest-based value chains |
Sidse Jensen |
|
LIFE25-ENV-FI-ExtendedLIFE Extended Lifetime of Forest Machinery by Innovative Recycling and Remanufacturing |
Jukka Laitinen |