By Marilyn Bruno, CEO, Aequor Inc. We hear a lot about "sustainability," but what does it really mean? There are so many definitions today that government officials around the world—including in the U.S.—are trying to come up with one overarching definition for "sustainability" that can be understood and verified by all. Here are some definitions that have been used in the past: Sustainable means “enduring,” “fair”
In 2017, all members of the United Nations agreed to implement 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. The 17 SDGs are interlinked and include: (1) No Poverty, (2) Zero Hunger, (3) Good Health and Well-being, (4) Quality Education, (5) Gender Equality, (6) Clean Water and Sanitation, (7) Affordable and Clean Energy, (8) Decent Work and Economic Growth, (9) Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, (10) Reduced Inequality, (11) Sustainable Cities and Communities, (12) Responsible Consumption and Production, (13) Climate Action, (14) Life Below Water, (15) Life On Land, (16) Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions, (17) Partnerships for the Goals. Sustainable means “safe and causing no harm.”
UN SDGs # 3, 6, 7, 8. 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 address improving human, animal and environmental health and add to “sustainability” the concepts of "safe," and "causing no harm." SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) had a 2020 deadline for implementation, including "environmentally sound management of chemicals and all wastes throughout their life cycle, in accordance with agreed international frameworks, and significantly reduce their release to air, water and soil in order to minimize their adverse impacts on human health and the environment." The “life cycle” referred to production, use and disposal of chemicals. As we know, this 2020 deadline was not met, despite some international and U.S. commitments. In 2017, the 38 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) echoed the definition of UN SDG 12 for Responsible Consumption and Production and member states pledged action. In 2019, the U.S. Sustainable Chemistry Research and Development Act expanded the definition of sustainable chemicals to include the UN’s safe “life cycle” requirement. Sustainable means “green,” which means “reducing harm to the environment and health”
But flash back over 25 years before the UN SDGs to the 1990, where we see that all of these concepts were already the law of the land in the U.S. The Pollution Prevention Act (PPA) of 1990 linked “sustainability” with the words "green chemistry," and called for "reducing the amount of any hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant entering any waste stream or otherwise released into the environment prior to recycling, treatment, or disposal.” Chemicals that are less hazardous to human health and the environment are “less toxic to organisms, less damaging to ecosystems, not persistent or bioaccumulative, inherently safer to handle and use because they are not flammable or explosive". Sustainable means “renewable.”
By 1998, EPA Directors Paul Anastas and John Warner published the Twelve Principles of Green Chemistry with adds to the definition of “green chemistry” the recommendations or safer production methods, including using "renewable raw materials” (https://www.epa.gov/greenchemistry/basics-green-chemistry). Sustainable means replacing dependence on imports with “renewable”, “biobased” products
Following 9/11, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) introduced the word "sustainable" in the context of access to "renewable feedstocks" — the raw materials that can replace petroleum as a source of chemical production in order to reduce dependence on foreign oil. USDA also provided economic incentives for the production of "biobased" products “derived from plants and other renewable agricultural, marine and forestry materials as alternatives to conventional petrochemicals and petroleum-derived coproducts such as lubricants, detergents, inks, fertilizers and bioplastics.” In 2002, USDA introduced mandatory federal purchasing requirements in the Farm Bill in order to create a market for “biobased” products. This was expanded in the Farm Bills of 2008, 2014, and 2018, including USDA subsidies for farmers, fermenters and producers of other biofuel feedstocks (algae, oil grains, waste cooking oil, etc.). Today, Federal law and the Federal Acquisition Regulation direct that all federal agencies purchase biobased products in categories identified by USDA regardless of price. According to the legislation, developing chemical feedstocks from renewable sources and using catalytic chemistry to create high-value chemicals that replace petrochemical products is critical to achieving sustainability. Sustainable means “biopreferred”
In 2011, the USDA introduced the "BioPreferred Program" to identify biobased products made from renewable feedstocks in whole or in significant part. As of June 2021, the BioPreferred Program Catalog includes more than 16,000 registered products that carry the "BioPreferred" label, representing a $470 billion market. Today, bioethanol is the #1 U.S. agricultural export. CONCLUSION
Sustainable can mean many things today: enduring, fair, safe and causing no harm; green; biobased; renewable; biopreferred; independent of foreign oil.
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