By Karolina Rabeda, Ph.D. student in the Lautens Group at the University of Toronto and a GCI Member-at-Large
As society continues to develop and our global population increases, so have the number of resources we consume and the amount of waste we produce. Ideally, we would have some sort of balance between production and consumption; however, since the 1700s we have been consuming far more natural resources than we are replacing. Unsurprisingly, our greediness is implicated in horrific global impacts, with one example being the destruction of the ozone layer. We’ve managed to destroy the ozone layer through human activity, such as burning fossil fuels that come from industrial plants or just driving around town.1 As mentioned, this is just one of many examples of how human activity has had a negative impact on the Earth. Rather than pointing fingers and trying to assign blame to the biggest culprits, the United Nations (UN) has developed 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to help the world understand what actions we need to collectively take to be better for the Earth (Figure 1).2 The idea is that if we are aware of these issues, we will choose more sustainable options and try to put them into action. If this is the case, then the UN believes we will be closer to ending poverty and protecting the planet by the end of 2023.2
Figure 1. The UN Sustainable Development Goals to support the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.2
With such a big goal, everyone needs to take action. Thankfully, the chemistry community has been interested in this challenge for a few decades already. As many chemists may already know, our idea of Green Chemistry typically comes from the ’12 Principles of Green Chemistry’ (PGC) introduced by P. Anastas and J. Warner in 1980 (Figure 2).3,4 The 12 PGCs essentially outline the most important things for chemists to consider when designing a reaction or synthetic plan. For example, by developing more selective reactions that require more mild conditions – the goal of almost every synthetic chemist – the amount of energy used and waste produced during the reaction would be reduced.3 Not only would this type of reaction be more attractive from a synthetic perspective but of course from a green chemistry perspective as well.
Figure 2. The 12 Principles of Green Chemistry.3
Hopefully, it is easy to now recognize that the UN Sustainable Development Goals and 12 Green Chemistry Principles seek to achieve the same objective: to create a more sustainable, less toxic, and safer world. With that being said, we can see direct relations between chemistry and the PGCs to at least 7 of the 17 SDGs: zero hunger (goal 2), good health and well-being (goal 3), clean water and sanitation (goal 6), affordable and clean energy (goal 7), industries, innovation, and infrastructure (goal 9), responsible consumption and production (goal 12), and climate action (goal 13).5
Goals 2 and 3: Chemistry is instrumental to agriculture and food production. Using sustainable and less toxic methods to make the food we consume, not only will lower the negative global impact that food production can have, but it will also help to nourish more people, especially those in need (PGC 4 & 7).
Goal 6: Dirty natural waters are primarily the result of excessive amounts of waste. The best way to remove waste is to not produce it (PGC 1).
Goal 13: Developing catalysts for essential transformations that use mild conditions and consume unwanted side products to make useful products, for example repurposing carbon dioxide (greenhouse gas) to methanol (valuable synthon in industry).
While the UN Sustainable Development Goals do not apply exclusively to chemists, we as a community can recognize how instrumental our role is in helping to achieve them, while using the 12 Principles of Green Chemistry to guide our design plan.
References
(1) Ozone Layer. National Geographic. https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/ozone-layer/ (accessed March 2023)
(2) The 17 Goals. United Nations. https://sdgs.un.org/goals (accessed March 2023)
(3) 12 Principles of Green Chemistry. ACS Chemistry https://www.acs.org/greenchemistry/principles/12-principles-of-green-chemistry.html (accessed March 2023)
(4) Anastas, P. T.; Warner, J. C. Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice, Oxford University Press: New York, 1998, p.30. By permission of Oxford University Press.
(5) Chemistry and Sustainable Development Goals. ACS Chemistry https://www.acs.org/sustainability/chemistry-sustainable-development-goals.html#:~:text=Chemistry%20will%20help%20meet%20the,by%20advancing%20cleaner%20fuel%20technologies (accessed March 2023)
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