Green and Sustainable Chemistry for a Circular Economy

The integration of Green Chemistry is foundational for the entire scientific domain, extending its reach from universal atomic interactions to diverse disciplines such as physics, biology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, and engineering. This unifying framework is pivotal for a sustainable future, necessitating the benign operation of the chemical sector ‒ from the production of drugs to plastics and fuels. However, to ensure a truly sustainable supply of chemicals, being benign is not enough. New processes must also perform comparably to traditional ones and be economically sustainable, allowing industry to produce chemicals without financial loss. In other words, a future circular economy must satisfy all three pillars of sustainability: environmental, societal, and economic. Recognizing the societal reliance on the chemical sector, a paradigm shift toward Green and Sustainable Chemistry is crucial for addressing environmental challenges. A major need is to replace the concept of ‘waste’ with a focus on material and energy flows. This involves transforming renewable feedstocks into building blocks, enabling recycling, reassessing hazards for (bio)degradability, and examining the potential toxicity of processes and products before implementation. A holistic systems thinking approach is advocated for unlocking the intrinsic functionalities of renewable feedstocks in the design stage, steering towards circularity and sustainability. A robust strategy for education is also needed to embed systems thinking and Green and Sustainable Chemistry in what is taught to future generations of chemists. Chemistry emerges as a key sector for upcoming transitions in energy, feedstock, and materials. Green and Sustainable Chemistry is envisioned to become the standard chemistry of the future.