Jianguo Liu Participates in UN Environment Expert Workshop on Chemicals Management

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Jianguo Liuan Associate Professor at Peking University in China and a Visiting Scholar at the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, recently participated in an Asia-Pacific regional expert workshop on chemicals management held in Bangkok, Thailand. The workshop, titled “Perspectives on Sustainable Chemistry Innovation and the Global Chemicals Outlook II: Understanding Trends, Risks and Opportunities in Asia,” was a meeting of the UN Environment Programme’s Global Chemicals Outlook-II Committee, of which Prof. Liu is a member. 

The Asia-Pacific expert workshop — in conjunction with workshops focused on Africa, Europe, and the Americas — brought together entrepreneurs, policymakers, academics, and representatives from civil society to examine regional megatrends and industry sector trends that may create risks and opportunities for chemicals management and sustainable chemistry innovation. The participants also explored regional perspectives on Emerging Policy Issues (EPIs) and other issues for which evidence indicates a risk to human health and the environment. Prof. Liu led the group discussion on two critical EPIs, Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) and Chemicals in Products (CiPs). The results from the workshop will inform the International Sustainable Chemistry Collaborative Centre (ISC3) Global Scenario Process to be initiated later in 2018, which will explore opportunities for a transition to more sustainable chemistry in the future.

As a Visiting Scholar at the Pardee Center, Prof. Liu is working with Faculty Associate Prof. Henrik Selin to address the challenge of globally managing chemicals in a way that protects the environment and human health over the next few decades, and the international institutions and cooperation that will be necessary to deal with existing and emerging threats.