ACS Position Statement
Statement on Sustainability of the Chemical Enterprise
Summary
The ACS Statement on Sustainability of the Chemical Enterprise defines the concept of sustainability in the context of the chemical enterprise and endorses the conclusions and recommendations of the National Academies study, Sustainability in the Chemical Industry.
ACS Position
Preserving the habitability of the Earth and its ability to provide the resources required for future generations to thrive is a basic human obligation. As the world’s population has grown and human consumption levels have increased, the resulting strain on the Earth’s biological, chemical, and physical systems has become apparent. Sustainable development reconciles society’s developmental goals with its environmental limits over the long term. It works to balance the real conflicts between economy and environment and between the present and the future (NRC, 1999). In this context, sustainability presents a path forward that allows humanity “to meet current environmental and human health, economic, and societal needs without compromising the progress and success of future generations” (WCED, 1987; NRC, 2005). A recent study by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) struck a similar theme, defining sustainability as “a path of continuous improvement, wherein the products and services required by society are delivered with progressively less negative impact upon the Earth” (AIChE, 2005).
Many aspects of the historically high standard of living currently enjoyed by most citizens of developed nations are attributed to chemical manufacturing and allied industrial sectors, including the pharmaceutical, materials processing, semiconductor, and biotechnology industries. However, these industries’ products and services require increasingly scarce raw materials and high levels of expensive non-renewable energy, which limits poorer societies’ access to their benefits and brings into question their availability to future generations. These constraints jeopardize future economic growth and improvements in the global standard of living.
The chemical enterprise comprises the chemical and allied industries and their trade associations, along with the educational and professional resources (schools, colleges, universities, research institutions, government laboratories, professional societies) that provide the enabling, skilled scientists and engineers as well as scientific knowledge. This enterprise has an ongoing obligation to ensure that the benefits arising from its products, processes, and services are not unduly compromised by inherent hazards or harmful practices. The scientists, engineers, and managers of the chemical community each have an ethical obligation to ensure sustainable practices.
To assist the chemical enterprise in meeting this obligation, the American Chemical Society (ACS) recently joined with several federal agencies and AIChE to sponsor a workshop and study directed by the Board on Chemical Science and Technology of the National Research Council (NRC) to define grand challenges and research needs that must be met to place the chemical industry, broadly defined, on a path toward sustainability. This effort identified eight grand challenge topics, with associated research requirements, that must be addressed to establish a sustainable chemical enterprise:
- Green and Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering;
- Life Cycle Analysis
- Toxicology
- Renewable Chemical Feedstocks
- Renewable Fuels
- Energy Intensity of Chemical Processing
- Separation, Sequestration, and Utilization of Carbon Dioxide
- Sustainability Education
Descriptions of these “grand challenge” topics and their required research agendas are presented in Sustainability in the Chemical Industry (NRC, 2005).
The American Chemical Society believes that an intensive effort to address the challenges raised and the research needs identified in Sustainability in the Chemical Industry is required if the chemical enterprise is to maintain its central role in improving living standards world wide. In particular, the ACS encourages a strong focus on development of renewable energy, fuels, and chemical feedstocks, as well as non polluting products and production technologies. The Society further believes that sustainability concepts should be taught at all levels of science education.
Many chemists are using their considerable scientific and technical skills, as well as their influence within their institutions, to address the challenges of developing a more sustainable chemical enterprise. To enhance and leverage their efforts, corporations, academic institutions, independent research institutes, professional societies, and trade associations need to establish sustainability goals and research agendas to inform and enable those goals.
The ACS calls on relevant government agencies to recognize the necessity of developing a sustainable chemical enterprise, to invest in its achievement in the context of a sustainable economy, and to support research programs and promote alliances that will inform and encourage the transition to sustainability.
References
AIChE, 2005, November ‘04-July ’05 Project, Institute for Sustainability, American Institute of Chemical Engineers
NRC, 1999, Our Common Journey: A transition toward Sustainability, National Research Council, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.
NRC, 2005, Sustainability in the Chemical Industry, National Research Council, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.
WCED, 1987, Our Common Future (The “Brundtland” Report), World Commission on Environment and Development, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit scientific and educational organization, chartered by Congress, with more than 160,000 chemical scientists and engineers as members. The world’s largest scientific society, ACS advances the chemical enterprise, increases public understanding of chemistry, and brings its expertise to bear on state and national matters.