Modern biotechnology offers valuable solutions to control insect pests. By design, those methods can be highly species-specific and provide valuable alternatives to chemical pesticides and thus contribute to sustainable agricultural. Most of those novel products [e.g., plant varieties derived by genome editing, RNA interference, genetically modified (GM) plants and insects] are regulated entities and their safety to the environment, and to organisms providing important ecosystem services, have to be assessed prior to their release. For some technologies Swiss regulation is currently under debate. The project will conduct research on the impact of such novel technologies and develop concepts for assessing environmental risks. The project and the results obtained will contribute to a science-based discussion about use and regulation of pest control products derived by modern biotechnology.