Chemistry and Sustainability Teaching

There are many examples of how chemistry will help society achieve the Zero Hunger goal. Advances in chemistry will help to better protect plants from pest infestations, improve food production and distribution channels, extend the shelf life of food through advances in packaging, and maintain food quality and safety. High-yield seeds in combination with new approaches to fertilisation will increase food production and help to reduce soil erosion. Fortification of food will help combat malnutrition in areas with limited access to healthy foods. Technologies for sustainable ammonia production, for phosphate recovery and reuse, and for targeted crop protection agents are additional examples of significant opportunities for the chemistry enterprise to make positive contributions. 

• The Reaction Kinetics topic in Chemistry 2 discusses the Haber-Bosch process for ammonia production and the key role it plays in fertilisers and food production.

Chemistry is key to achieving the Good Health and Well-Being goal. Medical breakthroughs and technologies made possible through advances in chemistry provide a deeper understanding of how human health is impacted by disease and hazardous chemicals in our food, water and the environment. Chemistry plays a critical role in medical diagnosis and drug development, enabling people to live longer and healthier lives. Chemistry also offers new solutions for reducing pollution and its impacts on human health. The application of green and sustainable chemistry can help eliminate or reduce hazardous chemical pollution.

• In Advanced Medicinal Chemistry, the Physicochemical Properties in Drug Design topic explores the principles of medicinal chemistry, focusing on the design and synthesis of novel pharmaceuticals.
• In Advanced Inorganic Chemistry, Technological Applications of Inorganic Compounds delves into the utilisation of biodegradable compounds for medical purposes.

Chemists will help society meet the clean water and sanitation goal in several ways. New methods of water purification and lower cost desalination processes will contribute to achieving universal access to safe and affordable drinking water. Water quality will improve through the deployment of greener technologies and pollution prevention strategies. Research is also needed to find new low-energy, high-efficiency separation methods for removal of metals and micropollutants. The chemical industry can work toward manufacturing practices that minimise water usage and waste management practices that avoid pollution; international partnerships will be crucial to ensure that new technologies and water management strategies will benefit the entire planet. 

• Nanomaterials mentions photocatalytic water treatment as a means to achieve clean water.
• Environmental Chemistry looks at measurement of crucial water properties, pollution tracing techniques, and water treatment practices.
• Industrial Organic Chemistry encompasses aspects of the safe disposal of waste materials.
• The Present Challenges and Future Solutions course in Sustainable Chemistry focuses on addressing reduced water pollution and the monitoring of water quality.
• Technological Applications of Inorganic Compounds explores methods for water purification and pollution reduction.

Chemistry will help meet the Affordable and Clean Energy goal through the development of new materials for renewable energy, by being more energy efficient in the chemical processing industries, and by advancing cleaner fuel technologies. A major issue with renewable energy production is the use of scarce and/or hazardous materials for solar and wind conversion, and energy storage.  Chemical researchers are working on the development of Earth-abundant advanced materials for renewable energy production, including photovoltaics, wind turbines, thermal energy collection, batteries, supercapacitors, and energy storage solutions. The chemical processing industries can improve manufacturing efficiency through new catalysts, optimised process design, and new separations processes.

• The Advanced Materials series explores materials for energy storage and conversion in ionic materials including batteries, fuel cells, and dielectric capacitors. It also discusses various material types, future developments, and pathways for their advancement. Electronic materials extensively discuss solar photovoltaics, focusing on materials for energy storage.
• Nanomaterials delves into supercapacitors for electrical energy storage, briefly mentioning batteries. It also covers electrocatalytic H₂ production for energy storage.
• Main Group Chemistry 2 includes context on low-energy lighting.
• Sustainable Chemistry explores the hydrogen economy and the use of fossil feedstocks. Present Challenges and Future Solutions addresses reducing energy costs for industrial processes and introduces heat storage technology.
• Advanced Topics in Chemical Physics, while tangentially related, provides techniques and theories applicable to probing fundamental properties of materials used in solar energy production and energy storage.
• Reaction Kinetics emphasises the use of catalysts to enhance reaction efficiency, improving cost-effectiveness and reducing environmental impact.
• Industrial Organic Chemistry, whilst having a major focus on oil and gas, also discusses alternative methods of energy production, citing examples from GridWatch and touching upon reducing fuel poverty.

Meeting the targets of nearly all of the SDGs will require an unprecedented amount of chemistry research and innovation. There are at least three aspects of the Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure goal where the chemistry community can make significant contributions. First, the chemical processing industries can upgrade infrastructure and retrofit production facilities to become more sustainable. Second, the chemistry community can design, synthesise, and manufacture innovative advanced materials and coatings that make infrastructure more sustainable and resilient. Third, encouraging chemistry research that enhances innovation for commercial applications.  

• Advanced Organic Chemistry discusses how catalysis underpins sustainable synthesis and chemical innovation as well as the use of mechanism for efficient production of chemicals reducing waste and energy.
• Advanced Materials Chemistry looks at the production of low carbon cement and touches upon the infrastructure required for widescale battery or fuel-cell uptake, and the critical materials required.
• Advanced Inorganic Chemistry explores the replacement of precious metals with Earth abundant alternatives.
• Biocatalysis as part of Sustainable Chemistry focuses on case studies of industry published biocatalysts, using natural substances that include enzymes from biological sources or whole cells to speed up chemical reactions.
• Advanced Biological Chemistry considers whether there are cheaper, greener and more accessible methods for therapeutic protein bio-manufacture compared to the use of mammalian cell culture.
• Industrial Organic Chemistry discusses atom efficiency’s importance in large scale production process and considers tosylate production as a by-product of aspartame.

Responsible Consumption and Production is a key goal for the chemistry community. Chemical products help improve the quality and efficiency of production processes across a wide range of industries, thereby improving water stewardship efforts and energy efficiency. From food packaging and additives to the prevention of food loss and waste, to innovations in waste management systems, the chemical processing industry helps to reduce the life cycle impacts of consumption.

The chemical processing industry can go further by contributing to a transition to a circular economy by enabling the circular economy in downstream industries and recycling and reusing molecules to close the loop in chemical manufacturing. Achieving a stable growth economy that promotes life cycle thinking will require developing new business models, products, and solutions that look beyond the concept of using a product just once. To realize this, we must address the challenges of minimizing energy and increasing the use of biobased and alternative feedstocks.

• Critical Metal Resources look directly at how we mine, refine, and recycle our metal resources.
• Catalysis 3 provides examples of catalysts employed in depolymerisation for plastic recycling, CO₂ hydrogenation, and the more sustainable production of polymers.
• Biocatalysts in Sustainable Chemistry examines how biocatalysts can reduce emissions by enabling eco-friendly production of fuels, plastics, and renewables, while also minimising hazardous chemical use and promoting waste conversion.
• Sustainable Chemistry also examines peak phosphorous and metal recovery, feedstock use and use of waste as a potential feedstock. As well as waste analysis, atom economy and the use of renewable materials.

Chemistry will play a critical role in the achievement of the Climate Action SDG. Advances in atmospheric chemistry are central to our understanding of the causes of global climate change and to our ability to predict the extent and impacts of climate change. Chemical research will be essential for mitigating and adapting to climate change. Advanced materials for renewable energy, improved treatments for disease, and high-yield seeds and fertilisers for increased food production will help combat climate change.

The chemical industry is moving toward a low-carbon economy by working to change to low-carbon emitting chemical production and by developing products that are playing a major role in enabling other sectors to reduce their own carbon footprints. Research and innovation are essential to help industry to move towards circular and low carbon emitting feedstocks, offering materials and energy solutions to our downstream customers using carbon from waste, biomass, and CO₂ and CO from flue gases. Chemical companies can work together to build resilience and adaptive capacity for the sector and its supply chain in response to the impacts of climate change. They can also play a key role in the development of solutions that will enable other sectors to strengthen their resilience to climate-related risks.

• Environmental Chemistry covers atmospheric, water, and soil chemistry, addressing changes induced by climate change.
• In both Environmental Chemistry and Technological Applications of Inorganic Compounds, the reduction of CO₂ emissions is explored through improved chemical processing and advancements in energy/heat-storage technology.