From What Chemistry Can Do to What Chemists Should Do: Introducing the IUPAC Guiding Principles of Responsible Chemistry
The principles of green chemistry have provided an essential framework for making chemistry more sustainable for the environment and for people, but they have also raised a deeper and more fundamental question: not only what chemistry can do, but how chemists should practice our profession.
📍 Online 🗓️ 23 March 2026 🕰️
Ethical codes, safety frameworks, and sustainability initiatives represent important progress toward responsible practice. Yet there is a need for a broader, more inclusive, and more comprehensive conversation about what it truly means to practice chemistry responsibly. This conversation must extend beyond technical performance and compliance to encompass ethics, sustainability, equity, transparency, and the societal purpose of chemistry itself.
To help initiate this global dialogue, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) launched the Guiding Principles of Responsible Chemistry project. Following several years of international dialogue involving experts from academia, industry, education, and policy across multiple continents, this effort resulted in eight Guiding Principles that articulate a shared framework for responsible chemistry. These principles address responsible innovation, safety, security, and sustainability; ethical behavior; inclusivity, equity, and belonging; communication and collaboration; equitable access to knowledge; integrity and accuracy; and convergence across disciplines. Together, they provide both a vision and practical guidance to ensure that chemistry advances in ways that maximize benefits for humanity while minimizing unintended consequences for people and the planet.
The Guiding Principles help shift the focus of the profession, from what chemistry can achieve to what chemists should do. They encourage chemists and institutions to adopt systems thinking, anticipate long-term impacts, engage stakeholders, and integrate ethical responsibility into research, education, industry, and policy. In doing so, they help strengthen public trust in chemistry and ensure that scientific progress contributes to a livable, just, and sustainable future.
A key aspect of this IUPAC initiative is the development of open-access educational materials designed to support educators, students, and anyone interested in learning more about these guiding principles. These resources include real-world case studies such as the Haber–Bosch process, refrigerants, and industrial safety incidents, which illustrate both the benefits and unintended consequences of chemical innovation. They also include discussion questions, teaching modules, systems-thinking tools, and structured reflection activities that help students connect chemistry concepts to global sustainability challenges and ethical decision-making.
Participants of this webinar will gain insight into the vision and development of the Principles, learn how they can be integrated into education, research, industry, and policy, and discover actionable strategies including curriculum innovation, case-based learning, stakeholder engagement, and professional development. We aim to inspire a new generation of chemists to align scientific excellence with ethical responsibility and societal benefit. Participants will be invited to contribute to this ongoing global conversation and to help shape the future evolution of the Guiding Principles, ensuring that chemistry continues to serve humanity and the planet responsibly and sustainably.
Duration: 60 minutes
– Welcome & Context – EuChemS leadership (5 minutes)
– Keynote Presentation – Prof. Javier Garcia Martinez (35 minutes)
– Q&A / Community Dialogue (20 minutes)
– Closing Remarks & Invitation to ECC10 (5 minutes)
Participants will:
– Join the ongoing conversation at ECC10.
– Gain awareness of the eight IUPAC Guiding Principles and their applications.
– Be invited to contribute examples and adaptations aligned with national and institutional contexts.
– Receive practical resources (links, case studies, templates).
Guiding Principles of Responsible Chemistry. IUPAC. (accessed 2026–02–07).
Hague Ethical Guidelines. OPCW. (accessed 2026–02–07).
Global Chemists’ Code of Ethics. American Chemical Society . 2016 (accessed 2026–02–07).
Royal Society of Chemistry Guide to Ethics. (accessed 2026–02–07).
Stockholm Declaration on Chemistry for the Future. Stockholm Declaration. (accessed 2026–02–07).
Peter G. Mahaffy and Javier Garcia-Martinez, From What Chemistry Can Do to What Chemists Should Do, Journal of Chemical Education 2025 102 (11), 4661-4665, DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.5c01467
Gomollon-Bel, F.; Garcia-Martinez, J. Chemical Solutions to the Current Polycrisis. Angewandte Chemie, Intl Ed in English 2023, 62, e202218975, DOI: 10.1002/anie.202218975
Garcia-Martinez, J. Chemistry 2030: A Roadmap for a New Decade. Ang. Chem. Int. Ed. 2021, 60, 4956, DOI: 10.1002/anie.202014779
