WASHINGTON – In case you missed it, U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), Co-Chair of the Congressional Chemistry Caucus, and Co-Chair of the Bipartisan Senate Climate Solutions Caucus, wrote an op-ed for Issues in Science and Technology’s winter issue on how the United States can be a leader in sustainable chemistry, the development and production of chemicals that do not harm the environment or human health. The chemical industry is a half-trillion dollar industry in the United States, and U.S. leadership in this space will create jobs, ensure responsible environmental stewardship, and allow American industry to compete in a growing global market.
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Issues in Science and Technology Op-Ed: Seizing the Opportunity to Lead in Sustainable Chemistry
By Chris Coons
This year, the United States has the opportunity to become a leader in an area of science too often overlooked as a key part of the green economy: sustainable chemistry, which is essentially the design and manufacture of chemicals so that both processes and products do not negatively impact human health or the environment. This spring, the White House will release a strategic plan for sustainable chemistry, which comes on the heels of a landscape analysis released in August 2023. Sustainable chemistry will have its time in the spotlight, but policymakers will have to make it count by using the strategic plan as a launchpad to greater awareness and action – or else risk squandering a golden opportunity that may not come again.
First, we need to understand how vital sustainable chemistry can be to our broader climate efforts, the plastics crisis, and the struggle for environmental justice. That’s why I worked hard to advance the Sustainable Chemistry Research and Development Act and secured its eventual inclusion in the fiscal year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Among other things – including coordinating government-wide support for sustainable chemistry – the legislation directed the White House to create the interagency committee charged with writing the landscape analysis and strategic plan so that the federal government can assess, and take advantage of, opportunities to lead the transition to healthier, greener chemistry.
Transitioning a sector as enormous as the chemical industry, which comprises nearly half a trillion dollars annually, is like steering a slow-moving freighter. But the potential benefits are enormous. Chemical manufacturing is the industrial sector’s largest source of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, which means any effective climate change action must go through chemistry. Increasing awareness of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, might require a targeted response to these harmful “forever chemicals” by way of a comprehensive sustainable chemistry strategy. Polluting industries frequently operate near low-income communities and people of color, so building a sustainable future for chemistry would go a long way toward addressing environmental inequities.
Aside from the environmental and health benefits, there are also good economic reasons to pursue sustainable chemistry. The chemical industry directly employs more than a half-million Americans and supports a total of 4.1 million jobs across all industries. A retooling toward sustainable chemistry can bolster the economy and create even more high-wage jobs, continuing the revitalization of U.S. manufacturing that has begun under President Biden. In addition, there is increasing consumer demand for sustainable products as the public becomes more concerned about the processes that produce the items they buy.
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