Promoting Green Chemistry Innovation
The Change Chemistry Supply Chain Innovation Program is developing new collaborative models for advancing green chemistry innovation to bring new, safer chemicals and materials to market and encourage their adoption.
Many Change Chemistry members need novel, safe, effective, and perhaps even natural chemical ingredients or materials for their products. These members are willing to set aside their competitive instincts to collaboratively search for, evaluate, and push to market new green chemicals and materials. Collaboration makes particular sense when the target chemical or material is:
- Common to products sold by multiple companies;
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Necessary for the product but does not confer competitive advantage for the product
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Where there are regulatory or market pressures that call for action.
Current Projects
If you're a member and would like to join a Supply Chain Innovation Project, contact out Program Director, Jenny Mackellar. If you're interested in becoming a member and joining a project, contact our Director of Partnerships and Business Development, Rui Resendes.
Future Fit Materials
A Future Fit Material is an alternative chemical or material that, within a specific application, is inherently safer and more sustainable than the incumbent. To address the profound sustainability challenges we face today, including human and eco-toxicity, climate change, circularity, and defossilization, we must transition towards chemicals and materials that are safer and more sustainable. Moreover, Future Fit Materials unlock pathways to enhance product and business resilience, mitigate financial and reputational risks, and protect brand value.
To achieve this transition, Change Chemistry and Sustainable Brands are bringing together leaders from brands, retailers, and materials innovators. Together, we will develop and equip sustainability champions with the tools and knowledge to effectively engage and collaborate with their marketing, sales, and technical teams to explore opportunities and develop pathways towards creating business value by transitioning to Future Fit Materials.
Scaling Sustainable Solvents
Each year, approximately 30 million metric tons of solvents are used globally across a wide variety of industrial, manufacturing and consumer goods applications. Unfortunately, most industrial and commercial solvents are petrochemically derived and many pose significant human health risks. Transitioning to safer and more sustainable solvents will not be easy - incumbent solvents are versatile, readily and reliably available for “pennies a pound”, and current manufacturing process and products are optimized for their use.
Change Chemistry is convening the chemical value chain on a collaborative project that will identify and support the transition of safer, more sustainable solvents with a focus on the scale and commercialization process.
Past Projects
Silicone Chemistry Alternatives for Cosmetics and Personal Care
Chemical suppliers and cosmetic and personal care product manufacturers within the Change Chemistry membership worked collaboratively to create a document to inform the development of green chemistry alternatives to silicone chemistry for cosmetic and personal care products.
The EU Regulation on Registration, Evaluation, and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH) Candidate List for Substances of Very High Concern list contains:
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Octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D4)
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Decamethylcyclopentasiloxane (D5)
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Dodecamethylcyclohexasiloxane (D6)
This designation and subsequent restriction of the chemicals in wash-off products has resulted in a market need for alternatives to these widely utilized components. A survey of cosmetics and personal care product manufacturers has shown that although these manufacturers generally prioritize cyclic siloxane replacements, alternatives for all silicone chemistries were significant considerations. 
Change Chemistry does not make comments on the environmental impact of D4, D5, D6, or silicones. This project addresses the market need to identify alternatives to silicone chemistries. Therefore, consistent with the mission of Change Chemistry, these alternatives were identified using the principles of green chemistry.
Learn more about the Change Chemistry’s silicone specification document with this one-page summary.
Collaborative Challenge on Preservatives for Personal Care and Household Products
In May 2018, Change Chemistry completed a collaboratively funded, designed, and executed preservatives challenge. There were 20 sponsors (including product companies, retailers, and suppliers), 48 submissions, and seven finalists for highly successful outcomes. Sponsors are now working toward partnerships with the innovators to evaluate their preservatives for use in their products or for co-development, licensing, or investment, to commercialize and scale the preservatives. Change Chemistry continues its work on preservatives by supporting the joint work between the innovators and sponsors, identifying new innovators and connecting them to our sponsors and other Change Chemistry members.
Need Statement & Development Criteria Document
Change Chemistry convened a group of 12 consumer goods companies to collaboratively develop the Need Statement & Development Criteria for New Preservatives for Personal Care & Household Products, which contains technical, health, and environmental criteria to inform the development and evaluation of new preservatives by solution providers. These criteria broadcast the need for new, safe preservatives and encouraged their development and commercialization. The document stimulated significant discussion and activity within and between supplier and consumer goods companies.
Collaborative Hazard Assessment of Chemical Alternatives
Change Chemistry developed and led a collaborative effort to evaluate safer alternatives to a known toxic phthalate plasticizer used in wire & cable applications -- DEHP di(2-ethyl hexyl phthalate). The project generated robust chemical alternatives assessment to support substitution decision-making by Change Chemistry companies and their supply chain partners by pooling knowledge, data, and funds. The project report Chemical Hazard Assessments of Alternative Plasticizers for Wire & Cable Applications summarizes the results and links to detailed chemical hazard assessments for nine plasticizers.
Advancing Green Chemistry Innovation in the Pharmaceutical Industry: The GCI Pharmaceutical Roundtable's Research Grant Program
Julie Manley, Guiding Green LLC & Coordinator of the ACS, Green Chemistry Institute's Pharmaceutical Roundtable
The American Chemical Society (ACS) GCI Pharmaceutical Roundtable began in 2005 as a non-competitive partnership between the ACS Green Chemistry Institute® and pharmaceutical corporations to promote green chemistry & engineering in the global pharmaceutical industry. Fifteen pharmaceutical–related companies collaborated through the Roundtable to identify critical, pre-competitive green chemistry and engineering research needs and pool their resources to fund university research to meet these needs. In a webinar, Julie Manley, Guiding Green LLC; Roundtable members from Eli Lilly and Pfizer; and researchers from UCLA, UMass Boston and Michigan State provided an overview of the Roundtable and the grant program, highlighting goals, accomplishments, examples, how they prioritize research, and handle intellectual property.
InnoCentive: Using Crowdsourcing to Solve Green Chemistry Challenges & Create New Market Opportunities
Alph Bingham, Founder & Board Member, InnoCentive
As companies seek to develop safer chemicals and materials for their products and production processes, some are turning to crowdsourced open innovation “challenges” to create new markets and solve problems more quickly and cost effectively. Challenge driven innovation (CDI) enables organizations to harness diverse and creative on-demand talent when needed. Commercial enterprises, government agencies, and not-for-profits embrace CDI. Dr. Alph Bingham, Founder & Board Member of InnoCentive, explained how CDI can fit within the broader tapestry of innovation and R&D efforts and provided examples of how CDI is applied to solve chemistry and sustainability challenges.
Accelerating Commercialization of Green Chemistry Technologies at GreenCentre Canada
Rui Resendes, Executive Director, GreenCentre Canada
Formed in 2009, GreenCentre Canada has an impressive track record of commercializing early- stage green chemistry inventions that originate from academia and small to mid-sized companies. This green chemistry-focused organization employs a unique business model that takes commercially relevant green chemistry ideas out of the lab and into commercial applications. Rui Resendes, Executive Director of the Centre, discussed their business model and the Centre’s successes, challenges, and future directions.