New federal report outlines strategic goals to advance sustainable chemistry

In December 2024, the Joe Biden administration released the Federal Sustainable Chemistry Strategic Plan. With the plan being made available to the public and relevant parties, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy hosted an event with several panels that featured participants from the American Chemical Society: Adelina Voutchkova, ACS director of sustainable development, and Rigoberto Hernandez, 2025 ACS president-elect.

The event marked “the beginning of the plan rollout,” Voutchkova says. While the gathering was relatively low-key, the plan itself was highly anticipated. “The amount of work to be done will be dependent on how the plan is taken up by various sectors.”

Years in the making

This report is an expected follow-up of a National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) state-of-the-science document released in August 2023: Sustainable Chemistry Report: Framing the Federal Landscape. That report “provides an analysis of gaps and opportunities for the federal government” in an effort to develop a comprehensive strategy for advancing sustainable chemistry, Voutchkova wrote in C&EN last year.

This effort is a mandate to the NSTC from the bipartisan Sustainable Chemistry Research and Development Act of 2019, whose stated purpose is “to provide for Federal coordination of activities supporting sustainable chemistry, and for other purposes.” But an interagency working group to begin coordinating these activities wasn’t established until the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2021 was passed.

“The Sustainable Chemistry Research and Development Act was bipartisan from its inception with Sens. Coons [D-DE], Collins [R-ME], Capito [R-WV], and Klobuchar [D-MN] all sponsoring from introduction in the Senate, and Reps. Lipinski [D-IL] and Moolenaar [R-MI] in the House,” says Caroline Trupp Gil of the ACS Government Affairs office. “This broad, sustained support was integral to the eventual passage of the Sustainable Chemistry R&D Act as part of a larger defense bill.”

Trupp Gil says the act’s passage was the result of a years-long campaign across multiple congresses that included visits with lawmakers, written testimony, and even an ACS-led legislative summit.

Advancing sustainable chemistry and the chemistry workforce

The Federal Sustainable Chemistry Strategic Plan outlines how the US government can use the identified opportunities from the original NTSC report to address identified gaps with clear goals supported by objectives and tasks. The four federal strategic goals for advancing sustainable chemistry are discovering more sustainable chemistry for future solutions; supporting, building, and bridging sustainable chemistry for discovery to commercialization; promoting adoption and growth of sustainable chemistry in business and subnational government; and creating a 21st-century federal service for sustainable chemistry.

“A key point of the report is that our workforce must not only reflect the diversity of people in our nation in order to ensure that all of our citizens are included, but it must also include a wide breadth of skills and expertise matching the needs of a systems approach towards sustainability,” Hernandez says. The National Science Foundation’s Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology, which he is involved in at Johns Hopkins University, is engaged with many specialties in chemical and molecular sciences and includes engineering, biological sciences, and computational sciences. “Such inclusive excellence in sustainable chemistry attracts students interested in solving practical challenges, learning transferable skills, and helping our nation,” Hernandez says.

Voutchkova says chemistry is central to promoting solutions that lead to sustainability.

She lists some of the advantages of advancing sustainable chemistry as critical for reducing environmental impacts; enhancing resource efficiency; and promoting safer, greener products. The benefits include economic growth through innovation, reduced toxic waste and dependence on finite materials, and improved public health outcomes.

“Sustainable chemistry also addresses climate change, supports the circular economy, and fosters international competitiveness,” Voutchkova says. By integrating research, policy, and workforce development, it enables industries to meet environmental regulations while creating long-term value. It’s a transition that benefits ecosystems, global markets, and communities.