EFSA's activities on Emerging Risks in 2023

Abstract The main objectives of EFSA's activities on environmental scanning encompass: (i) the identification and analysis of emerging risks as well as more forward‐looking signals, drivers and trends that could affect EFSA's work programme; (ii) developing and improving emerging risk identification methodologies and approaches; and (iii) communicating issues and risks that have been identified. The outcome of these activities equips EFSA to anticipate forthcoming challenges in the continuously evolving landscape of risk assessment. EFSA networks of knowledge that contribute to the emerging risks identification activity include the Emerging Risks Exchange Network (EREN), the Stakeholder Discussion Group on Emerging Risks (StaDG‐ER), EFSA's scientific units, the Scientific Panels, the Scientific Committee and their working groups. The current technical report summarises the activities of all groups involved in the environmental scanning process, the issues identified in the course of 2023, and the collaborative activities. In total, 32 potential emerging issues were discussed in 2023 and five were concluded to be emerging risks. The potential issues were classified according to the hazard. In 2023, EFSA has further implemented its environmental scanning and strategic options definition process with the development of the Emerging Risks Exchange Platform (ERAP), which is intended to centralise all emerging risks analysis activities. Acknowledging the breadth and variety of the scientific areas to be covered, EFSA has also put in place a collaborative network for preparedness that goes beyond just the European Union. Finally, special attention has been given to increasing the visibility of EFSA's environmental scanning work, making use of FoodSafeR's digital hub to disseminate EFSA's activities to a worldwide community of professionals dealing with preparedness, and with the creation of the biannual EFSA newsletter “Emerging Risks Update,” which provides valuable insights into EREN's and StaDG‐ER's meetings and discussions, recent news and publications, upcoming events and activities related to environmental scanning.