Green chemistry and sustainable development: Approaches to chemical footprint analysis

Abstract

The methods to monitor the distribution of chemicals in the biosphere and to estimate the impact of chemicals on the biosphere are necessary to reach Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The paper presents the examples of methods to measure the concentration of heavy metals (including rare earth elements) and to rank them by the level of hazard to human health on different scales. The megacity scale presents the investigation of the impact of heavy metals on the small water bodies using water contamination index (WCI); and the investigation of snow contamination to estimate the level of short-term seasonal emission of heavy metals and rare earth elements. The 2nd part of the paper presents approaches to mitigate the exposure to mercury on the regional scale: the estimation of the current concentrations of mercury in atmospheric air, natural soils, and fresh waters using UNEP/SETAC USEtox model, as well as the estimations of the variations in the concentrations of mercury for the year 2045 in the federal districts of the Russian Federation, based on representative concentration pathways (RCPs) scenario and Minamata Convention scenario.