Nobel symposium: Chemistry for Sustainability: Fundamental Advances

The critical challenges of climate change, resource depletion, materials pollution and global dispersion of persistent chemicals require fundamentally new chemistries as the building blocks of a sustainable future that operate in circular systems, rather than linear approaches. Chemistry for sustainability is a strongly growing research field that originates from the 12 principles of green chemistry, which were presented in the 1990s. The field drives future progress through developments within catalysis, resource efficient processes, alternate drivers for chemical transformations, use of green solvents, biobased chemicals and materials, toxicity /hazard screening, environmental foot print evaluation, system thinking, and data driven design at molecular scale. In recent years, there have for example been significant breakthroughs in our understanding of chemical bonding, the field of catalysis has been radically transformed, and advances have been made in separations from green solvents to self-separation, which have played a significant role in reducing the use and generation of hazardous waste from pharmaceutical manufacturing to the refining of complex biobased mixtures. The symposium will highlight the importance and recent discoveries of the research field, which spans over many areas of chemistry. We have selected sessions focusing on the transformative, dynamic and adaptive power of sustainable chemistry that is key to driving progress towards the SDGs, and will invite leading researchers and emerging scholars from different parts of the world to lead the discussions. Science-adjacent side events on education, communication and policy are planned for maximum impact.