Chemical Sciences and Society Symposia (CS3)

"Chemistry for Sustainable Food" was the topic of the ninth Chemical Sciences and Society Symposium (CS3) held at the Chemical Society of Japan (CSJ) in Tokyo from September 19 to 21. About 30 scientists from China, Germany, the UK and Japan discussed future issues from the perspective of chemistry, including "Food Engineering", "Revolutionary Food Production" and "Circular and Sustainable Chemistry for Food Sustainability". The American Chemical Society (ACS) participated with two presentations via videocall. The results are summarised in a white paper as recommendations for politics, science and society.

The German delegation included Monika Pischetsrieder (Erlangen-Nuremberg, Co-Chair), Ute Weisz (Munich), Markus Fischer (Hamburg) and Holger Zorn (Giessen) from the Food Chemical Society (LChG), as well as Elisabeth Kapatsina from the GDCh. The CS3 series has been running since 2009 and is supported by the chemical societies and funding agencies of the participating countries as co-organisers, from Germany by the German Research Foundation and the GDCh.

“Science to Enable Sustainable Plastics” was the topic of the 8th Chemical Sciences and Society Symposium, held from 10–13 November 2019 in London. Thirty scientists from China, Germany, Japan and the UK, along with representatives from the chemical societies and research funders of these countries, discussed how chemistry can help enable sustainable plastics. Keynote and position talks prompted discussion in four thematic sessions: new plastics, the recyclability of plastics, the degradation of plastics, and measuring the impact of plastics. During a concluding session, recommendations for scientists, research funders, policymakers and society were developed. These will be published, together with the results from the thematic sessions, in a white paper later in 2020.

Andreas Greiner (Bayreuth) led the German CS3 delegation to London. The additional delegates were Markus Biesalski (Darmstadt), Christian Laforsch (Bayreuth), Stefan Mecking (Konstanz), Brigitte Voit (Dresden), Markus Behnke (DFG), and Hans-Georg Weinig (GDCh).
The Chinese Chemical Society (CCS), the Chemical Society of Japan (CSJ), the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), GDCh and research funders from all participating countries, including the German Research Foundation, support the CS3 series financially and as co-organisers.

At the end of the meeting, delegates from all four countries discussed the important outcomes of CS3 in a live-streamed online panel discussion facilitated by BBC environment reporter Laura Foster, and answered questions from online followers around the world. The webcast is available Online at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4f_HR57AcM

At the invitation of the Chinese Chemical Society (CCS), the 7th Chemical Sciences and Society Symposium (CS3) took place from 5 to 8 September 2017 in Dalian, China. Approximately 40 scientists and representatives of the chemical societies and funding organisations from the participating countries China, Germany, Great Britain, Japan and the USA discussed the contributions chemistry can make to this year’s conference theme, “Solar Energy for a Sustainable Future”. The German CS3 delegation was led by Professor Ferdi Schüth (MPI Mülheim).

The results of the symposium were summarised in a white paper and presented at a press conference on 19 March 2018 during the ACS National Meeting in New Orleans, USA.

ACS press conference

From 14 to 18 September 2015, the GDCh organised the 6th Chemical Sciences and Society Symposium (CS3) on the topic of “Chemistry and Water”. 42 experts from five countries came to Leipzig for the event.

Water chemists and chemical engineers from China, Germany, Great Britain, Japan and the USA discussed the contributions of chemistry to a safe global drinking water supply. The scientific committee, chaired by Torsten Schmidt (University of Duisburg-Essen and Chair of the Society of Water Chemistry), had defined the following focal points for the thematic sessions: drinking water, health and the environment, detection, wastewater treatment and purification, and the recovery of valuable materials from water.

The results of the symposium were summarised in a white paper and presented at a press conference on 14 March 2016 as part of the 251st ACS National Meetings in San Diego/USA.

ACS press conference

From 16–19 September 2013, the fifth Chemical Sciences and Society Symposium (CS3) took place in Tokyo, Japan, on the topic of “Efficient Utilization of Elements”.

In this field, chemistry played and will continue to play a particularly important role in the substitution of critical elements/materials, recycling and the development of new materials. In addition, the results of the discussions involving the participating scientists supported science policy with regard to future resource strategies and geopolitical issues. As in previous years, high-ranking scientists from the USA, UK, China, Japan and Germany also took part in CS3 in Tokyo this year.

The results of the symposium will be summarised in a white paper and made accessible to all relevant stakeholders.

From 17–20 September 2012, the fourth Chemical Sciences and Society Symposium (CS3) took place in San Francisco, USA. The central theme of CS3 was: “Chemistry for Next-Generation Sustainable Electronics”.

30 leading scientists from the participating countries—the USA, UK, China, Japan and Germany—discussed important topics in four thematic sessions and one concluding session, and provided recommendations to policymakers, science and society on the contributions chemistry can make to the above-mentioned topic. The results of the symposium were summarised in the white paper "Organic Electronics for a Better Tomorrow: Innovation, Accessibility, Sustainability".

The third Chemical Sciences and Society Symposium (CS3) took place in Beijing from 13 to 15 September 2011. The central theme was “Chemistry for Better Health”. For the CS3 meetings, the chemical societies from China, Germany, Great Britain, Japan and the USA send high-ranking chemists each year, with the support of the respective research funding organisations, to discuss issues from chemistry that are important to society. Professor Horst Kessler (Munich) led the German delegation of six scientists to Beijing on behalf of the GDCh. The experts’ findings and resulting recommendations are incorporated into the white paper “Chemistry for Better Health” – for exchange with the scientific community and society, and in particular as policy advice.

More information about the white paper and the download can be found on the RSC homepage http://rsc.li/health-report-2012

The white papers “Sunlight as an Energy Source for the Earth”, based on the first CS3 in Kloster Seeon, and “Chemistry for a Sustainable Global Society”, resulting from the second CS3 in London, have already been published.

The aim of the second Chemical Sciences and Society Symposium, held in London from 7–10 September 2010, was to promote international cooperation in materials chemistry and discuss possible contributions of materials chemistry to a sustainable global society. After the GDCh had organised the first symposium in the CS3 series in Germany in 2009, responsibility this time lay with the RSC. The symposium was conceived jointly with the chemical societies from China, Great Britain, Japan and the USA. Funding was provided by the research funding organisations of the five participating countries.
30 internationally renowned scientists accepted the invitation to London and spent 2 ½ days discussing the most important research objectives relating to sustainable materials chemistry.

As a result of the symposium, the scientists agreed: materials chemistry will play a central role in solving many future challenges, from energy conversion and storage to preserving scarce raw materials. The scientists summarised the results of the London meeting in the White Paper “Chemistry for a Sustainable Global Society” under the following points:

• New materials for energy conversion and storage
• CO2 activation, storage and utilisation
• Substitutes for fossil fuels and chemical raw materials
• Preservation of scarce natural raw materials
• Sustainable materials and processes

From 23–25 July 2009, the first CS3 Chemical Sciences and Society Symposium on the topic "Using the sunlight to address the energy issues - sunlight to power the world" took place at Seeon Abbey (Bavaria).

The German Chemical Society (GDCh) took the lead in organising the event. The symposium was prepared jointly with the American Chemical Society (ACS), the Chinese Chemical Society (CCS), the Chemical Sociey of Japan (CSJ) and the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC).

Funding was provided by the research funding organisations of the five participating nations: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), US National Sience Foundation (NSF), National Science Foundation of China, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), British Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

Thirty leading scientists identified the most important research objectives relating to the use of solar energy. Chemistry will certainly play an important role in the conversion and storage of solar energy. The results of the discussions at the Seeon Conference were summarised in the final plenary session and adopted by consensus of all scientists present.
The message from the first Chemical Sciences and Societiy Symposium is set out in the paper "Powering the World with Sunlight".