Safe-and-sustainable-by-design: State of the art approaches and lessons learned from value chain perspectives
Research output: Journal contributions › Scientific review articles › Research
Authors
Safe-and-sustainable-by-design (SSbD) is central in the European Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability, yet a common understanding of what SSbD is in concept and in practice is still needed. A comparison of current SSbD descriptions and approaches was made and lessons learned were derived from value chain discussions (packaging, textile, construction, automotive, energy materials, electronics, and fragrances value chains) to help provide input on how to implement SSbD in practice. Five important building blocks were identified: design, data, risk and sustainability governance, competencies, and social and corporate strategic needs. Other lessons learned include the identification of the biggest safety and sustainability challenges in a lifecycle-thinking approach towards the development of purpose-driven innovations, and connecting trans-disciplinary experts to the innovation process, already from the early phases. A clear understanding of what SSbD is and how to implement the SSbD framework is needed with clear procedures and incentives to support the industrial sector, especially SMEs.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 100876 |
| Journal | Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry |
| Volume | 45 |
| Number of pages | 16 |
| ISSN | 2452-2236 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 01.02.2024 |
| Event | 7th Green and Sustainable Chemistry Conference 2023 - Hilton Dresden, Dresden, Germany Duration: 22.05.2023 → 24.05.2023 Conference number: 7 https://www.rsc.org/events/detail/75368/7th-green-and-sustainable-chemistry-conference |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:
IRISS receives funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation program under grant agreement no 101058245. UK participants in Project IRISS are supported by UKRI grant 10038816. CH participants in Project IRISS receive funding from the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation ( SERI ).
Funding Information:
Recent policy developments such as the European Green Deal [1], the European Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability (EC-CSS) [2] and the Zero Pollution Action Plan [3] aim to support the transition towards climate neutrality and a toxic-free environment. To achieve this transition, making chemicals, materials, products, and processes safer and more sustainable by design is fundamental and both a societal urgency and a great economic opportunity for the European manufacturing industry to regain competitiveness [2].Currently, the education sector is a further source of potential inertia for SSbD as specific university curricula as well as training courses for professionals are lacking. The integration of SSbD in education is a key element to support the development and implementation of SSbD across industrial sectors [9,11] and one ‘enabling condition’ listed by the EEA [9]. Both current and future workforces need to be equipped with the necessary skill profile to incorporate safety and sustainability aspects into the product design along the whole lifecycle. This includes students of, e.g., engineering, product design, and chemistry as well as all key people in the design process, including product engineers, plant managers, chemists, sustainability experts, and decision-makers throughout the product's supply chain [9]. To enable a life-long learning, which is an important aspect mentioned in the 1st principle of the European Pillar of Social Rights [52], diverse re- and up-skilling opportunities are required. Technical support centres [9] or the Pact for Skills [52] could support the realisation of such trainings. Additionally, societal education is needed for different stakeholders, including consumers [9,53].The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Lya G. Soeteman-Hernandez reports financial support was provided by European Commission. A co-author Prof. Dr. Klaus Kümmerer is an editor in Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry. IRISS receives funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation program under grant agreement no 101058245. UK participants in Project IRISS are supported by UKRI grant 10038816. CH participants in Project IRISS receive funding from the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors
- By-design, Innovation process, Lifecycle, Safety and sustainability, SSbD concept, Value chain perspective
- Chemistry