Transitioning to a Sustainable Chemical Industry: Lessons from History

T. T. Chao Symposium on Innovation

The chemical industry is at a crossroads. While its products are essential to achieving a high quality of life for the global population, it is also a primary industrial contributor to the climate, toxic pollution, and plastic waste crises that now threaten human and planetary health. The chemical sector needs to undergo a dramatic transformation over the next 20 to 30 years to achieve goals related to netzero, biodiversity protection, and chemical pollution.

History can offer inspiration, lessons and warnings to guide this transformation. This Chao Symposium will explore the government, investment, and private sector actions that created the modern chemical industry. Particular attention will be paid to the global changes that marked the era from the 1940s to the 1960s, sometimes called “The Great Acceleration.” What kinds of industrial policy and strategic alignments created our modern forms of chemical production? How can we create alignments that lead to needed change?

The Chao Symposium will convene leading experts in the history of the chemical industry in the U.S. and globally, as well as investment professionals, business leaders, chemists and engineers, government officials, and non-profit advocates. Experts on other rapidly changing industries like semiconductors and renewable energy will also participate. The symposium will result in a report and set of papers on lessons learned from historical development of the chemical sector and other key industrial sectors.

Participation in this symposium is by invitation only. If you are interested in attending, please contact Juliette Ullman at jullman@sciencehistory.org.

About the T. T. Chao Symposium on Innovation

The T. T. Chao Symposium on Innovation explores, celebrates, and encourages innovation and sustainability in the chemical sciences. It brings together established and emerging leaders in the technical, entrepreneurial, healthcare, and policy arenas to share innovative ideas that impact our world. This annual symposium is made possible by a gift from the Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Foundation in Houston, Texas.

Featured image: “You’re holding up a million-dollar bomber…try SYNTHETIC RUBBER,” advertisement for Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, 1943.