A Sustainable Future With Green Chemistry

Nitesh H Mehta, Co-Founder Director, Newreka Green-Synth Technologies and Krishna B Padia, Executive Director, Green ChemisTree Foundation, elaborate on the barriers to implementation and industrialisation of Green Chemistry and initiatives to overcome the same

Green Chemistry is now moving in a phase where most people are not asking the question “whether Green Chemistry or not?” but are asking“how can we implement Green Chemistry?” This means that relevance of Green Chemistry is no longer the question. Most stakeholders of chemical industry including industry, academic and research institutions, government and regulatory bodies, teachers and students, investors, etc. are clear that Green Chemistry is a powerful tool that can lead us to a sustainable future.

At times when, industry is grappling with shrinking margins and increasing pressure to comply to environment norms, industry has started seeing Green Chemistry as a tool that can enable them to achieve both economical and environmental competitiveness. The academic and research institutions are seeing Green Chemistry as an area for research where they can do meaningful work and contribute towards solving problems which are so relevant in today’s context. Teachers are beginning to see the relevance of teaching Green Chemistry to their students to have them be better prepared and equipped to deliver on the expectations of the industry and the society, after they are graduated. Students are beginning to see Green Chemistry as a very promising and growing field with potential to provide great career opportunities. Government and regulatory bodies have realised the role that Green Chemistry can play in improving the quality of air, water and soil for their people and for their country.

The next question which each of the above mentioned stakeholders of chemical industry is asking is – “how we can go about it or how we can accelerate the inclusion of Green Chemistry in our domain or in our area of accountability?”