New declaration calls for commitment to more sustainable chemistry

On Friday, May 23, in a museum memorializing the achievements and spirit of people who have made significant contributions to humanity, the Stockholm Declaration on Chemistry for the Future was launched. The event, held at the Nobel Prize Museum in Stockholm, included leaders from science, policy, and education; representatives from industry, academia, nongovernmental organizations, and embassies; and participants from the Nobel symposium Chemistry for Sustainability: Fundamental Advances. The symposium, organized by Stockholm University Center for Circular and Sustainable Systems, took place May 19–22 in the lead-up to the declaration event and featured prominent researchers in sustainable chemistry discussing the role chemistry can play in solving global challenges.

“The Stockholm declaration is an urgent call to join forces to re-invent chemistry in order to build our sustainable future,” Ben Feringa, 2016 Nobel laureate in chemistry and a professor at the University of Groningen, says in a press release.

More than 100 years ago, innovations in chemistry transformed the world. Those developments in chemistry have made possible advances in transportation, communication, medicine, and more, says Paul Anastas, a professor of chemistry at Yale University and the architect behind the work with the declaration. They transformed the old world into the society that we know today, Anastas explains, “and basically, it’s time to do it again.”

Themes for transformation

The declaration includes five main themes to encourage transformation at scale:

1. The design, development, and implementation of chemical products and processes must be done with the goal of reducing or removing harm to people and planet.

2. Action must be taken now by all in the chemistry enterprise—scientists, researchers, businesses, investors, etc.—in recognition that continuing the status quo will pose a great risk to people, the planet, and the prosperity of both.

3. Education must include systems thinking and life-cycle perspectives. Teachers, students, and practitioners of chemistry today will need training to integrate such perspectives into their work.

4. Transparency and accessibility of chemical data and information are necessary for safe and sustainable innovation and impact assessments.

5. Government policy must align with and enable the advancement of safe and sustainable chemistry.

A multitude of relevant parties

The declaration is crafted in a way that recognizes the creativity and brilliance of scientists and engineers. Research, discovery, inventions, and innovations are needed—that’s where it starts, Anastas says, “but that is profoundly not where it ends.” The declaration mentions educators, students, and lifelong practitioners and discusses how to train and educate the next generation. Anastas references a quote that stuck with him from the launch event and that is an important point regarding the crafting of the declaration: “It’s not just about how we make our chemicals; it’s about how we make our chemists.”

The declaration is a call to action for all relevant parties—policymakers, businesses, financiers, educators, students, researchers, scientists, engineers, etc.—to begin implementing solutions that will preserve human well-being and the environment. Signing the declaration is voluntary and can be done by individuals, organizations, institutions, or communities who want to act on the themes and contribute to the vision the document lays out.

“Science and education are the most powerful resources any economy can capitalize on,” says Walter Leitner, managing director of the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion. He notes that scientific societies from all over the world have already endorsed the document—as of the week after the launch of the declaration, there are over 1,000 signatories from almost 45 countries. “The key message is to look for business opportunities based on cutting-edge science: Why would any national economy have an interest to slow this down?” Leitner says.

While the declaration was drafted mainly by chemists and chemical engineers, Leitner says there is a clear understanding that progress and impact will require action from multiple parties. “While this ranges from economics to politics and from investors to regulators, the toolbox of innovation can be filled only by molecular sciences.”

Anastas’s optimism for the declaration was bolstered by the commitment of those who attended the event, an audience he describes as “some of the best, the brightest, the most accomplished from around the world, who could be spending their time doing all kinds of different things. He says their commitment to not just participate in the declaration but also help transform innovation into impact means a lot. “People know things can be better tomorrow than they are today, and chemistry is at the tip of making that happen.”

Anastas says the best way to contribute is to look at the declaration and ask, “What is it that I’m capable of doing?” That could be structuring viable deals for start-ups in the marketplace or developing curricula, for example.

You can read more about the declaration at the official website.