Themed collection IOCD Essay Competition Winners

An introduction to the Regional Winners of the first annual Essay Competition, Young Voices in the Chemical Sciences for Sustainability.

Global warming, ocean acidification, melting glaciers, extreme weather conditions, and biodiversity loss are mainly due to the continuous rise in CO₂ level in the atmosphere. Land pollution and disruption in marine life and ecosystems are partly due of generation of a million tons of plastic waste.

This paper examines the challenges of energy storage amid the climate crisis, emphasizing the urgency for innovative solutions across the supply chain to ensure a sustainable and resilient future.

Modern technologies, including renewable energy equipment, consume ever-increasing amounts of critical elements. A new issue is thus created while addressing the first. Microfluidics, recycling centred research, interdisciplinary collaborations and preventative education are possible solutions.

The dependence on increasingly scarce, nonrenewable phosphate rocks has led to rampant nutrient pollution in surface waters heralding significant worldwide geopolitical, environmental, and economic insecurities which will need to be addressed through phosphate remediation and community education.

One of the winning entries from the Young Voices in the Chemical Sciences for Sustainability global essay competition.

A multi-loop resource nexus, which features an intricate network of various resource loops, is proposed to promote circular economies. To realize efficient transfer and transformation of resources, the chemical sciences are critical for innovations in low-carbon resource recovery technologies.