IMC Krems representative as member of the new platform
The first initiative to create such a platform came from the Federal Environment Agency in 2019. Representatives from a wide variety of fields were invited to two meetings to get to know each other and the idea. Experts from business, academia, science, consumer and environmental protection-oriented non-governmental organisations and the administration took part in these two events.
On 24 June 2020, the "green chemistry" platform with 23 representatives of the various stakeholders was founded by the Federal Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology in cooperation with the Federal Environment Agency. Uwe Rinner (IMC Krems) and Barbara Gepp (FH Technikum) represent the Austrian universities of applied sciences in the committee. Andrea Hickel from the College of Chemistry in Graz is also a member. Together, this group of experts supports the elaboration and implementation of the goals and tasks of the national work programme on "green chemistry" and develops solutions for the chemical sector. The committee thus provides intensive support to the government in implementing the climate targets.
Ecological orientation
The "green chemistry" platform stands for ecologically oriented chemistry and aims at reducing the environmental and health impacts of chemicals. Attention is to be paid to energy efficiency, resource conservation and health and environmental compatibility already during the production, but also during the processing, use and disposal of chemicals. In this way, sustainability is to be anchored in the chemical industry.