2026 European Forum
Building the Infrastructure for Safe and Sustainable Chemistry
13-14 October 2026
Merck KgaA, Darmstadt, Germany
The transition to safe and sustainable chemistry requires more than innovation alone. It requires the broader ecosystem infrastructure of standards, data, metrics, and practices that help organizations identify priorities, guide investment, accelerate innovation, and measure progress.
Join Change Chemistry and leaders from across the chemical value chain for a hands-on forum focused on strengthening the market infrastructure needed to advance the transition.
Through a series of interactive working sessions, participants will examine five essential functions of a well-performing safer chemistry ecosystem: clear market signals, supportive policy environments, effective innovation guidance, and meaningful performance measurement. Insights generated during these discussions will directly inform practical tools under development—including the Safer Chemistry Transition Framework and emerging benchmarking approaches—that can help organizations prioritize action, guide decision-making, and demonstrate progress.
Together, participants will help shape the infrastructure needed to accelerate innovation, improve transparency, strengthen accountability, and expand the availability of safe and sustainable chemistry solutions across markets and value chains.
Registration Information
| Member Tickets | Price |
| Company, Consultant | $750 |
| Startup, Academic, Government | $450 |
| Nonmember Tickets | Price |
| Company, Consultant, Trade Associations | $1,200 |
| Startup, Academic, Government | $500 |
What is included with an in-person ticket?
- Agenda packed with startup event, keynote speakers, informative panel sessions, breakout discussions and tour
- Quality networking time with industry peers
- 2 Light Breakfast Meals
- 2 Lunch Meals
- 1 Evening Reception
- Coffee Breaks
Attendee List
To receive a copy of the 2026 European Forum attendee list, you must consent to sharing your contact information (name, organization, title, email) during the registration process.
Refund Policy
No refunds or credits will be granted after 13 September 2026. Refunds will not be given for no-shows. Anyone who is registered but cannot attend may send a substitute. Please contact Jenny MacKellar to communicate any changes to an existing event registration.
Sponsorship Opportunities
Sponsoring the 2026 European Forum provides your company with an opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to green chemistry and raise its profile as a leader in sustainability to customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders. We have some great sponsorship packages available. Contact us today!
Curious about our events? Click here to hear from our past participants
Please note that this event agenda is preliminary and subject to change.
DAY 1: Understanding What the Market Ecosystem Needs
08:30–09:00 | Registration and Light Breakfast with Refreshments
09:00–09:30 | Opening Session: Building the Infrastructure for Transition
The safer chemistry transition depends on the ability of many stakeholders—including retailers, brands, chemical manufacturers, innovators, policymakers, investors, and civil society organizations—to work within a shared marketplace and ecosystem that rewards innovation, drives sustainability and enables competitiveness and resilience.
This opening session will introduce the Forum's central objective: identifying opportunities to strengthen the market infrastructure that supports the transition. Participants will learn how discussions throughout the Forum will contribute to practical tools, frameworks, metrics, and guidance designed to help companies accelerate progress toward safer chemistry.
MODERATOR:
Jason Pearson, Executive Director, Change Chemistry
09:30–10:30 | Session 1: Creating Clear Market Signals
How can retailers communicate priorities in ways that accelerate innovation?
Retailers play a critical role in shaping market demand for safer chemistry. Yet formulators, brands, manufacturers, and innovators often face inconsistent expectations, fragmented market and regulatory requirements and signals, and competing priorities when deciding where to invest.
This interactive session will explore the business drivers, customer expectations, transparency needs, and implementation challenges influencing retailer and brand strategies. Participants will identify opportunities to create clearer and more consistent market signals that can help direct innovation toward the most important market needs.
Key Question: What information, expectations, and tools would help create stronger and more consistent demand signals for safer chemistry?
MODERATOR:
Jenny MacKellar, Program Director, Change Chemistry
10:30–11:00 | Networking Break
11:00–12:30 | Session 2: Shaping the Policy Environment
How can policy support innovation and adoption?
Public policy helps shape the conditions under which safer and sustainable chemistry innovations are developed, commercialized, and adopted. Regulatory and voluntary policy frameworks, procurement programs, and incentives can all influence investment decisions and market outcomes.
This session will explore how policy shifting developments in Europe and beyond can positively or negatively affect the business case for safer chemistry, where policy can help address barriers to adoption, and how public-sector priorities intersect with broader objectives related to sustainability, competitiveness, and innovation.
Participants will discuss the role of policy in creating an environment that supports both innovation and market uptake, particularly in the context of recent changes in regulatory policies in Europe. Participants will explore lessons learned from parallel policy initiatives in the United States.
Key Questions:
Which policy approaches can most effectively encourage medium to longer term innovation, investment, and adoption of safer chemistry solutions, particularly as regulatory policies evolve?
How can policy drive and enable innovation and adoption of safer chemistry solutions outside of REACH reform?
MODERATOR:
Joel Tickner, Strategic Advisor, Change Chemistry
12:30–13:30 | Networking Lunch
13:30–15:00 | Session 3: Translating Need into Innovation
How do we define the characteristics of successful alternatives?
Innovation is most effective when innovators understand what success looks like.
This collaborative working session will explore how value-chain stakeholders can better communicate technical requirements, safety and sustainability criteria, performance needs, and market expectations to the research and innovation community.
Participants will help identify the information and criteria needed to create more effective innovation briefs and category-specific guidance that can accelerate development of safer chemistry solutions.
Key Question: How can market needs be translated into practical guidance for innovators and product developers?
MODERATOR:
Jason Pearson, Executive Director, Change Chemistry
15:00–15:30 | Networking Break
15:30–17:00 | Session 4: Measuring Transition Progress
What metrics can help companies and investors identify leadership?
Organizations increasingly need ways to demonstrate progress toward safer and more sustainable chemistry. At the same time, investors, customers, and other stakeholders need credible information that helps distinguish meaningful action from aspiration.
This session will explore the role that transition metrics, benchmarks, and disclosure approaches can play in supporting decision-making, accountability, and investment. Participants will discuss what progress should look like, what information is most useful for evaluating performance, and how measurement can help accelerate change.
Key Question: How should organizations measure and communicate meaningful progress toward safer chemistry?
MODERATOR:
Alexandra McPherson, Director of the Investor Environmental Health Network (IEHN), Clean Production Action
Evening Program:
17:00–18:00 | Merck KGaA Site Tour
18:00–20:00 | Networking Dinner
DAY 2: From Insights to Infrastructure
08:30–09:00 | Registration and Light Breakfast with Refreshments
09:00–12:00 | Session 5: Co-Creating the Safer Chemistry Transition Framework
Applying ecosystem insights to practical tools for action
Day 1 focused on identifying opportunities to strengthen the ecosystem that supports the safer chemistry transition. Day 2 shifts from diagnosis to development.
Participants will review and provide input on the evolving Change Chemistry Safer Chemistry Transition Framework, examining how insights related to market demand, policy conditions, innovation guidance, and performance measurement can be incorporated into a practical framework for companies seeking to accelerate progress.
Discussion will focus on testing assumptions, identifying gaps, and strengthening the framework's usefulness as a tool for prioritization, implementation, and communication.
MODERATOR:
Jason Pearson, Executive Director, Change Chemistry
12:00–13:30 | Networking Lunch
13:30–15:00 | Session 6: Developing Transition Tools
Turning concepts into practical resources
Participants will break into working groups focused on specific components of the infrastructure needed to support the Safer Chemistry Transition Framework.
Each group will develop recommendations to help guide future Change Chemistry work products.
MODERATOR:
Jenny MacKellar, Program Director, Change Chemistry
15:00–15:30 | Closing Session: Priorities for the Year Ahead
Review key insights from the Forum, identify priority next steps, and discuss opportunities for continued collaboration in development of the Safer Chemistry Transition Framework, transition metrics, benchmarks, and other practical tools designed to accelerate the transition to safe and sustainable chemistry.
MODERATOR:
Jason Pearson, Executive Director, Change Chemistry
Registration Options
|
Registration Options
|
Price |
|---|---|
|
Nonmember: Company, Consultant
|
$1,200.00 |
|
Nonmember: Startup, NGO, Academic, Govt
|
$500.00 |
|
European Forum 2026 Gold Sponsor
Company logo will be featured prominently throughout the event, on all conference marketing materials and permanently on our website 1 free event registration Verbal and promotional recognition throughout the event Social media recognition |
$15,000.00 |
|
European Forum 2026 Silver Sponsor
Company logo will be featured prominently throughout the event, on all conference marketing materials and permanently on our website 2 free event registrations Verbal and promotional recognition throughout the event Social media recognition Recognition in press release |
$10,000.00 |
|
European Forum 2026 Bronze Sponsor
1 free event registration Verbal and promotional recognition throughout the event Social media recognition Recognition in press release |
$5,000.00 |
|
European Forum 2026 Dinner Sponsor
Host one of the event’s premiere networking events Recognition during in the evening’s remarks 1 free registration Opportunity to address your peers in a more casual environment Social media promotion Logo on website |
$10,000.00 |
|
European Forum 2026 Panel Sponsor
Company logo will be featured prominently throughout the event, on all conference marketing materials and permanently on our website Verbal and promotional recognition throughout the event Social media recognition Recognition in press release |
$2,000.00 |
Support the Future of Safer Chemistry
Advancing safer chemistry requires continued dialogue, innovation, and collaboration across the chemical value chain.
Sponsors of this forum help support a trusted space where leaders from industry, government, finance, and other sectors can exchange perspectives, share experiences, and explore the opportunities and challenges shaping the future of chemistry.
By supporting this event, sponsors demonstrate their commitment to:
- Encouraging innovation in safer and more sustainable chemistry
- Supporting knowledge exchange across industries and sectors
- Engaging with leaders navigating the transition toward safer solutions
- Advancing meaningful conversations about the future of chemistry
Together, we can support the continued exchange of ideas and perspectives needed to accelerate progress toward safer chemistry solutions. Please contact Jenny MacKellar to learn more about sponsor opportunities.
Host Sponsor:
Merck KgaA, Darmstadt, Germany
Recommended Airport
The closest major airport to Darmstadt is Frankfurt Airport (FRA), located about 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of the city.
Frankfurt Airport (FRA)
Address: 60547 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Website: www.frankfurt-airport.com
Frankfurt Airport is well connected by a wide range of transportation options. Whether you're arriving or departing by train, bus, taxi, long-distance coach, or shuttle service, you'll find everything you need here to get to and from the airport.
Getting to the Event Venue from Airport
The Merck KgaA, Darmstadt, Germany campus is approximately 25 km (16 miles) from Frankfurt Airport.
- Taxi / Ride-Share: Available directly outside terminals. Travel time is 20–30 minutes.
- Public Transit: Take a regional train from the airport to Darmstadt Central Station (Hauptbahnhof), then transfer to a local tram or bus straight to the Merck KgaA, Darmstadt, Germany campus. Travel time is 40–55 minutes.
Event Venue Info:
Merck KgaA, Darmstadt, Germany (Headquarters)
Address: Frankfurter Strasse 250 64293 Darmstadt Germany
Phone: +49 6151 72-0
Website: www.emdgroup.com
Recommended Hotels
The properties below are recommended for their quality and convenient commute times to the Merck KgaA, Darmstadt, Germany campus (Frankfurter Str. 250).
Please note: Official room blocks are not being coordinated for this event. Attendees are responsible for their own lodging and are encouraged to book directly with their hotel of choice.
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Moxy Darmstadt (Website) - Located west of the city center in a vibrant commercial district, offering straightforward travel options directly to campus.
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Public Transit (Tram & Bus): 25 to 30 minutes
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Driving / Taxi / Ride-Share: 10 to 15 minutes
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Best Western Hotel Darmstadt Mitte (Website) - Located right in the city center, offering a highly convenient base with direct transit options straight to campus.
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Public Transit (Direct Tram): 15 to 20 minutes
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Driving / Taxi / Ride-Share: 10 to 15 minutes
(Note: Morning city center traffic can add a few minutes, making the direct tram line often faster than driving.)
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Premier Inn Darmstadt City Center (Website) - Located west of the city center near the central railway station, offering a highly connected, predictable commute to campus.
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Public Transit (Tram): 30 minutes
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Driving / Taxi / Ride-Share: 12 to 15 minutes
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ibis Styles Darmstadt (Website) - Located in the western business district (Telekom-Viertel) and surrounded by green space, offering quiet accommodations with an easy commute to campus.
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Public Transit (Bus & Tram): 20 to 30 minutes
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Driving / Taxi / Ride-Share: 12 to 15 minutes
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Getting Around Darmstadt
Darmstadt features an integrated transit network centered around Luisenplatz (downtown) and the Hauptbahnhof (Central Station).
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Trams & Buses: Frequent (every 10–15 mins), connecting downtown to hotels and venues.
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Airport Shuttle (AirLiner): Direct express bus from Frankfurt Airport (FRA) to Central Station every 30–60 mins.
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Regional Trains & S-Bahn: Fast, direct connections to Frankfurt, Mainz, and Heidelberg.
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Taxis & Ride-Share: Uber, FreeNow, and traditional taxi stands are widely available citywide.
Quick Traveler Tips:
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One Ticket Rules All: One fare zone ticket allows free transfers between all buses, trams, and trains.
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Best Apps: Use RMVgo or DB Navigator for real-time routing and digital tickets.
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Passes: The Darmstadt Card offers unlimited local transit plus museum discounts. The nationwide Deutschland-Ticket is also fully accepted.
Parking at Event Venue
Merck KgaA, Darmstadt, Germany headquarters features a dedicated, signposted visitor parking garage (Besucherparkplatz).
- Location: Located off Frankfurter Straße (300m past the Shell station coming from the city center) or accessible via Virchowstraße.
- EV Charging: Electric vehicle charging points are available inside the garage.
- Check-In Process: After parking, proceed to Building B31 (The Merck Innovation Center) Visitor Reception. A valid photo ID (passport or national ID card) is required to receive your visitor pass.
For More Information:
