The concepts of green and sustainable chemistry have gained significant attention around the world, given their potential to innovate and advance chemistry to help achieve global sustainable development goals and targets. While the concept of “green chemistry” was elaborated through the well-known 12 principles published in 1998 (Anastas and Warner 1998), “sustainable chemistry” has recently evolved as a closely related, yet more holistic concept (Blum et al. 2017; Kümmerer 2017).
This Manual takes stocks of the evolution of, and developments in the field of green and sustainable chemistry, including their scientific and social dimensions. Building on this discussion, it
provides guidance considered relevant for various stakeholders to scale-up green and sustainable chemistry innovation action and assess management practices. The Manual builds on the 2019
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report ‘Analysis of Stakeholder Submissions on Sustainable Chemistry Pursuant to UNEA Resolution 2/7’ (UNEP 2019a), which was discussed at
the fourth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-4) in 2019.