On December 19, 2024, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) announced the availability of the Federal Sustainable Chemistry Strategic Plan (Strategic Plan).

As reported in our January 19, 2021, memorandum, Subtitle E of TII of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (NDAA for FY2021) includes the text of the bipartisan Sustainable Chemistry Research and Development Act of 2019. Subtitle E establishes an interagency working group led by OSTP to coordinate federal programs and activities in support of sustainable chemistry. The Sustainable Chemistry Strategy Team (SC ST) under the Joint Subcommittee on Environment, Innovation, and Public Health of the National Science and Technology Council developed the Strategic Plan as directed by the NDAA for FY2021, identifying “future strategies to avoid duplication of efforts, streamline interagency coordination, facilitate information sharing, and spread best practices among participating agencies.” The Strategic Plan identifies four strategic goals:

• Discovering more sustainable chemistry for future solutions;
• Supporting, building, and bridging sustainable chemistry from discovery to commercialization;
• Promoting adoption and growth of sustainable chemistry in business and subnational government; and
• Creating a 21st century federal service for sustainable chemistry.

Each of these goals is supported by objectives and tasks. The Strategic Plan notes that there are five crosscutting themes: federal investment into sustainable chemistry, circular economy, data sharing and artificial intelligence (AI) models, environmental justice (EJ) and equity, and education and community engagement. The Strategic Plan states that by advancing these goals, tasks, objectives, and crosscutting themes, it “identifies opportunities to decrease duplication and increase efficiency as agencies foster the discovery and design of new chemicals and chemical processes, encourage the implementation of more sustainable chemicals and processes, and incorporate the principles of sustainable chemistry into decision making and policies.”