The Expert Committee on Sustainable Chemistry (ECOSChem) has released a report, Definition and Criteria for Sustainable Chemistry, which serves to provide a clear and actionable definition and set of criteria for sustainable chemistry. ECOSChem has aspirations that this definition and set of criteria will be adopted and adapted for uses such as policymaking, education, and investment decision-making and to guide chemical, material, process, and product design and implementation.
ECOSChem has defined sustainable chemistry as “the development and application of chemicals, chemical processes, and products that benefit current and future generations without harmful impacts to humans or ecosystems.” The report outlines numerous criteria which should be considered to achieve sustainable chemistry, although the report notes that sector-specific and chemistry-specific metrics and timeframes will need to be developed to make each of the criteria actionable. The criteria are as follows:
Equity and Justice
A sustainable chemical, material, process, product, or service will:
- Be designed or implemented with authentic community engagement.
- Be designed or implemented in a manner that does no harm when feasible and prioritizes the remediation of harm to communities that have been disproportionately impacted at any stage in the lifecycle of a chemical process or product.
- Protect workers, marginalized groups, and vulnerable groups.
- Be designed or implemented in a way that does not create new problems or shift harm.
- Be designed or implemented in a way that supports local economies and ensures product access and affordability for marginalized groups.
Transparency
A sustainable chemical, material, process, product, or service will:
- Make public health, safety, and environmental data an accessible format.
- Include scientifically defensible and openly accessible verification for sustainability, health, safety, and other claims.
- When possible, include a chain of custody so that chemicals and materials used in a product can be traceable throughout the lifecycle.
Health and Safety Impacts
A sustainable chemical, material, process, product, or service will:
- Be without hazards, hazardous components, emissions, and toxic byproducts and breakdowns.
- Not result in releases, including releases of persistent or bioaccumulative byproducts or breakdown products.
Climate and Ecosystem Impacts
A sustainable chemical, material, process, product, or service will:
- Utilize renewable, non-toxic chemical building blocks.
- Have no negative impacts on climate and biodiversity, including impacts on habitat and resource degradation.
- Be without harmful releases to air, water, and land across its lifecycle, including for transportation and distribution.
Circularity
A sustainable chemical, material, process, product, or service will:
- Be designed to have a lifetime appropriate to its use and enable safe reuse and non-toxic recycling.
- Prioritize resource and energy efficiency, conservation, and reclamation, reduced consumption of finite resources, and waste prevention, minimization, and elimination.
There is no indication that this detailed and rigorous definition will be adopted or applied by any federal or state agencies.